Environmental Values and Political Polarization
While we all wait for tonight's election returns, it's worth taking a look at some of the trends that driving the votes. We're been seeing a lot of polls lately about candidates, but in some ways issues polls are more interesting. Many people have noted the decline in support for environmental values among the public. A Pew poll in June revealed the most important reason: a dramatic decline in concern about the environment among Republicans. There's some reason t...
CONTINUE READINGEvaluating Prop 37
Rick Frank posted about a UC Davis white paper on Prop 37, which provides detailed background on the ballot measure. For those who want something that just lays out the issues concisely, I'd recommend Ezra Klein's post on the subject. It's brief and fair-minded to a fault -- I'm sure partisans on the issue would emphasize the "to a fault" part. Maybe it's a reflection of the fact that I'm not a native Californian, but I'm skeptical about the use of popular initiatives...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Proposition 30 and the Environment
With so much attention paid to the presidential race, it's easy to overlook the fact that California's fiscal future is on the ballot tomorrow, with consequences for the environment. Proposition 30 represents Governor Jerry Brown's attempt to stave off harsh cuts to the state budget, a situation brought on by declining tax revenues in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and a legacy of annual budget deficits inherited from his predecessor. Brown's solution is...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Would Romney Do? How Reelection Strategy Could Shape a Romney Presidency
If Romney is elected president tomorrow, the sun will still rise in the east and sea will still be salty. Beyond that, predictions about a Romney presidency become more difficult, given his exceptionally inconsistent history on the issues. As I showed in an earlier post, Romney's views about environmental and energy issues flipped 180° between his term as governor and his positions as a candidate. Late in the campaign, he seemed to shift toward more moderate views ...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Denial and the Republicans: The Poor Man’s Anticommunism
Why is the Republican Party so wedded to climate denial? As Dan has noted, not a single Republican candidate in the 2010 Senate elections could acknowledge the reality of climate change. Shortly after taking the majority in the House, the House Energy and Commerce Committee declared climate change to be a hoax. But this seems to be at odds with both the facts and with conservative ideology. After all, there are policies that good conservatives could support to mi...
CONTINUE READINGAn Inconvenient Treaty
Should the U.S. join an international treaty to limit carbon emissions? The little-known answer: we already have. No, this wasn't a secret Obama Administration initiative. The treaty was signed by none other than President George H.W. Bush. The treaty is called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC. The word "framework" can mislead people into thinking that the UNFCCC does nothing more than set the stage for further negotiation. I...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Adaptation Heroes
Megan's piece highlights that government may not be up to the job of helping us to adapt to "the new normal". As the token economist here, permit me to celebrate competition as a friend of climate adaptation. Suppose that a coastal city doesn't figure out how to adapt to climate change. The shocks to its quality of life will manifest themselves and mobile, skilled people will leave and home prices will fall. Detroit is poor because the skilled choose not to l...
CONTINUE READINGRewarding Climate Adaptation Heroes
Earlier this week, Mother Jones posted a piece on how the public rewards politicians for disaster response instead of disaster prevention: Politicians get much more credit for their reaction to disasters like Sandy than they do for trying to ensure disasters don't cause so much damage in the first place. The post cites a 2009 study, Myopic Voters and Natural Disasters, by Andrew Healy of Loyola Marymount University and Neil Malhotra of Stanford University, which analyz...
CONTINUE READINGQuote of the Day — or the Year — or the Century
Eric Pooley, vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund, on Hurricane Sandy: “We can’t say that steroids caused any one home run by Barry Bonds, but steroids sure helped him hit more and hit them farther. Now we have weather on steroids.” Any questions? UPDATE: Our commenter and friend Maya Kuttan points us to this video, "animating" the issue: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW3b8jSX7ec]...
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