Climate, Energy, and the Presidential Race
Michele Bachmann ripped into Tim Pawlenty last night for his past support of cap-and-trade. "When you were governor of Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state.... you said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me." Several of the other candidates have backed away from their previous support for cap-and-trade measures as governors. It remains fascinating that this mainstream economic concept, long co...
CONTINUE READINGThe Greening of Tisha B’Av
Three days ago, I fasted on the Jewish holy day of Tisha B'Av, which marks and commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Jews observe the day also by reading Eikha, the biblical Book of Lamentations. No fast day could be considered pleasant, but it has always been a particularly meaningful day for me, not the least because it runs so counter to Americans' concept of history: as the great historian Richard Hofstadter incisively observe...
CONTINUE READINGGifford Pinchot’s Birthday
Gifford Pinchot (the final "t" is silent) was born on August 11, 1865. He was responsible for founding the Yale School of Forestry, which remains a major center for environmental research and teaching today. Like Chief Justice John Marshall, he is also considered the founding father of an institution even though he wasn't the institution's first leader -- in Pinchot's case, the institution was the Forest Service. He remains a controversial figure for environmentalis...
CONTINUE READINGAn Environmental Hero Rides Into the Sunset
The Sacramento Bee reports today that Peter Douglas, the long-time executive director of the California Coastal Commission, has taken a medical leave of absence and will retire in November. Douglas definitely deserves his retirement, but it's a real loss for the environmental community. Douglas helped draft the original Coastal Act as legislative director for former state Senator Alan Sieroty; he became the Commission's initial deputy director, and then assumed the...
CONTINUE READINGThe Tea Party Embraces Local Energy Efficiency Financing?
It looks like we've finally found an environmental issue that can attract strong bipartisan support. The PACE program allows municipal bond financing to pay for energy efficiency retrofits and solar panels, among other environmentally benign building improvements, to be repaid through property tax assessments. But the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) essentially squashed the residential version of this program, and lawsuits against FHFA have had mixed resu...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Deniers: Stupid or Evil?
It's an interesting psychological question, actually. Fox News' climate change "expert," the appropriately-named Joe Bastardi, claims that the theory of anthropogenic climate change cannot be true because it contradicts what we call the 1st law of thermodynamics. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. So to look for input of energy into the atmosphere, you have to come from a foreign source. Uhh...that "foreign source" of energy would be the sun. The theory of...
CONTINUE READINGEco-Nutrition Labels
Increasingly, consumers want to know where their food comes from, how it is produced, and what impact their choices are having on the environment. The standard "Nutrition Facts" label provides information on ingredients and calories, but says nothing about where a food came from, nor the energy and natural resources expended in its production. Is it time for an "eco-nutrition label" that provides information on both nutrients as well as the environmental impacts of pro...
CONTINUE READINGThe War Against the Environment
Salon has a recent article entitled, "The Worst Anti-Environmental Congress Ever?" The answer is definitely yes. As someone who has lived through the Gingrich and DeLay eras in Congress, I can say without hesitation that the current House of Representatives is far, far worse. A complete listing of anti-environmental votes in the House can be found here. The riders on the current EPA and Interior appropriations bill tell the tale, as the LA Times reports: If a mo...
CONTINUE READINGGreen litigation in China today
For those interested in the state of environmental litigation in China, China Dialogue, a bilingual site on China's environment, ran an excellent series of articles last month on the topic. I opened the series with an article entitled "Green litigation in China today." Here is an excerpt. Environmental litigation is difficult business in China. Even as the country enters its 12th Five-Year Plan period, with perhaps the most extensive set of top-down environmental and...
CONTINUE READINGSome Thoughts About Environmental Disasters
In an environmental disaster, a disaster causes environmental harm, environmental change causes an acute risk to humans, or both take place. Examples include the BP Oil Spill, the London killer for of 1952, the 2003 European heat wave, and the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Climate change will intensify the connection between disaster issues and the environment. Given the interwoven nature of disasters and environment, we should consider what environmental law and disaster...
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