Melting the Ice (But Not in a Fun, Life-of-the Party Way)
The Ny Times has a lengthy article about glacial melting and sea level rise, with bad news: But researchers have recently been startled to see big changes unfold in both Greenland and Antarctica. As a result of recent calculations that take the changes into account, many scientists now say that sea level is likely to rise perhaps three feet by 2100 — an increase that, should it come to pass, would pose a threat to coastal regions the world over. And the calculations ...
CONTINUE READINGWhy the Feds Should Pay the Administrative Costs of Implementing AB 32
There's been a lot of discussion of whether Prop 26 interferes with the use of fees to pay the administrative expenses for AB 32. I would like to suggest an alternative solution: the Feds should pick up the tab. This may seem a little far-fetched, given the current political situation, but it makes real sense in terms of policy analysis. The reason is simple: California's experiment with climate change regulation will produce valuable information that benefits the w...
CONTINUE READINGMore Thoughts About Conservative Climate Perspectives
Some of the comments on my previous posting chided me for overlooking conservatives who are taking reasonable views about climate change. At present, it seems to me that climate denial is the dominant conservative position, as reflected in the views of Republican members of Congress, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, etc. But it’s unfair to tar all conservatives with the same brush, and particularly unfair to academics, who are often more nuanced than public figures. Views...
CONTINUE READINGThat Warm Fuzzy Cap-And-Trade Feeling
Cara asks if cap-and-trade skeptics like me still get excited at California's Mini-Me version. The short answer (for me, at least) is yes. I'm all in favor of California rolling out its own version, and my hope has always been that the California Air Resources Board could develop a successful program that EPA could eventually build on, if the federal politics ever change. And a success in California could help change those federal politics by removing concerns about...
CONTINUE READINGI, Robot
The claims of climate deniers are so repetitive that someone has figured out how to automate the twitter wars: Getting into a climate change debate on Twitter could be even more exhausting than it sounds now that a software developer named Nigel Leck has automated the process. Tired of arguing with climate change deniers in 140 character quips, the programmer wrote a script to do it for him. Chatbot @AI_AGW scans Twitter every five minutes searching for hundreds of phra...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Are Conservatives So Hostile to Climate Policy?
Dan wants to know why conservatives would oppose market-based solutions to climate change that avoid greater government intervention down the road. I asked last week why traditional conservatives, who make much of preserving traditions through different generations and respecting institutions through time, would also oppose such policies. The answer to both questions lie in their fundamental misunderstanding of what American conservatism is, at least as it is institut...
CONTINUE READINGThe Truly Conservative View of Climate Policy
A nice column in the Washington Post about why conservatives should change their views about climate policy: When faced with uncertainty and the possibility of costly outcomes, smart businessmen buy insurance, reduce their downside exposure and protect their assets... And when military planners assess an enemy, they get ready for a worst-case encounter. When it comes to climate change, conservatives are doing none of this. Instead, they are recklessly betting the farm on...
CONTINUE READINGJerry Brown and the Environment
During the campaign, Jerry Brown stressed environmental issues. His campaign website has a very extensive list of proposed environmental policies. It' no surprise that he favors AB 32 and renewable energy, as well as vigorous enforcement of other existing environmental laws. Some of the other policies are a little less familiar. Here are some that struck me: Strengthen enforcement and adopt incentives to get the dirtiest vehicles off the road. The dirtie...
CONTINUE READINGPolar bear listing remanded
The headline might not sound like it, but this is good news for environmentalists. The Endangered Species Act provides legal protections for two categories of species: those that are "endangered," defined as in danger of extinction throughout at least a significant portion of their range; and those that are "threatened," defined as likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The distinction is important because species listed as threatened need not be given...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia full-steam-ahead on cap and trade
Whether or not Californians focused on climate change in voting on Proposition 23 (as Ann and Sean discuss), their rejection of 23 means full steam ahead on climate change regulation. Notably, while the rest of the country leaps back from cap and trade (here's Obama throwing it under the bus in his post-election comments), California is moving ahead with cap and trade policy. Under the state's overall plan for reducing greenhouse gases back to 1990 levels by 2020, th...
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