Comparing Climate Models with Reality
The models are looking pretty good, as shown by this graph from Real Climate. The colored lines are different measurements of change in global temperature average. The black line is the average of the predictions from the models used by IPCC, and the gray band shows the 95% confidence level (only a 1/20 chance of being outside the band). There's obviously a some significant short-term bouncing-around, but the trend line looks quite good -- better than one might expec...
CONTINUE READINGJustice Brennan was not an Irishman
If you have access to The New Republic's premium content online, or have a chance to buy the dead-tree version this week, make sure to do so. Justin Driver has written an outstanding essay on Justice William Brennan. It's styled as a (positive) review of Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel's new full-length biography of Brennan (pictured right), but it's really a fascinating essay on what Driver considers to be the myths of Brennan, and his effectiveness on the Court. S...
CONTINUE READINGImminent Foodie-Tree Hugger Alliance!
We often speak of mitigating climate change in light of how much can we afford to reduce consumption, thus leading some foodies to reject environmental values. A classic in this genre occurs right here in Los Angeles, where Heal the Bay's executive director, Mark Gold, spends his time trying to save sea creatures, and his brother Jonathan, the nonpareil food critic of the LA Weekly, spends his time trying to eat them. But the Times of India reports that the equation i...
CONTINUE READINGObama’s 80% “Clean” Energy Goal: Ambitious or Inevitable?
In a recent post on Grist, Keith Schneider found President Obama's 80% "clean" energy goal rather incredible: Arguably the central provision of President Obama's State of the Union address last night was the proposal to generate 80 percent of the nation's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035 -- including nuclear energy and "carbon capture and storage" coal technology. Getting there will take a miracle, the same sort of pie in the sky thinking that allowed our p...
CONTINUE READINGCan Obama’s Car Emissions Deal Work for Utilities?
Politico ran a little noticed article last week suggesting that the nation's utilities are exploring whether they can cut a deal with the Obama Administration to regulate their greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is to model a deal after the plan the car companies entered into with the Obama Administration to extend California's car carbon standards nationwide. If Obama could strike such a deal with the utilities he could credibly claim to have crafted far reaching c...
CONTINUE READINGLegal Planet Nomination
Legal Planet has been nominated as one of the top fifty environmental blogs. To find out more and learn how to have input into nomination process and vote on the final selections, please go to the Lexis-Nexis website. We're very pleased to have made the initial list, given Lexis-Nexis's standards: For the first time, this Community will recognize the thought leaders who share their expertise-and their divergent points of view-with the online world by awarding an honor...
CONTINUE READINGGood for Consumers, Good for the Planet?
California Governor Jerry Brown’s appointment of Mike Florio, a well-known, life-long consumer advocate, to a seat on the California Public Utilities Commission raises an interesting question for those who view the world primarily through green-colored glasses. What does a consumer advocate have to offer toward the advancement of an environmental agenda – at least in the energy utility world? There was a time when consumer and environmental priorities seemed to ha...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Environmental Blueprint: Environmental monitoring & modeling
This post is the second in our ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California. In our Blueprint, we recommended that Governor Brown establish an independent, statewide agency or council devoted to compilation, modeling, prediction and presentation of environmental quality data. I want to elaborate on what this agency might look like and why we believe such an agency is important to California's environmental future. To briefly summarize our Blueprint, we ...
CONTINUE READINGThe State of the Union Address: Good on Energy, MIA on Climate
President Obama's State of the Union address had good news for research universities and for renewable energy: We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology - an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people. Already, we are seeing the promise of renewable energy. In terms of renewable energy, he added: "I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: ...
CONTINUE READINGObama’s Cost-Benefit Executive Order
Last week, President Obama issued a new executive order on cost-benefit analysis The order also promised a retrospective review of old rules to weed out the duds. Business interests were pleased, environmentalists were dismayed. Politically, the new executive order makes perfect sense. To be reelected and keep control of the Senate, he needs to win over independent voters who supported the GOP in November. To avoid policy disasters like refusal to raise the deb...
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