Climate Change
EPA proposes fuel economy letter grade labels for cars
New labels proposed by the federal government would give new cars letter grades reflecting their fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions. Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are expected to get the highest grades. The rule isn’t final yet; the public can comment and make suggestions on the label design. Most of us are familiar with …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Not-So-Skeptical Environmentalist
Bjorn Lomborg (a/k/a the “Skeptical Environmentalist”) has apparently had a change of heart regarding climate change. According to the Guardian: The world’s most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is “undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today” and “a challenge humanity must confront”, in an apparent U-turn …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and El Nino
From dot.earth: Federal researchers have published work concluding that a particular variant of the periodic El Niño warmups of the tropical Pacific Ocean is becoming more frequent and stronger. The pattern appears to fit what is expected from human-driven warming of the global climate, said the researchers . . . The 2009-2010 El Nino event …
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CONTINUE READINGLong Shot Challenges to the Endangerment Finding
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed another legal challenge, this time to EPA’s refusal to reconsider its finding that climate change endangers human health or welfare. Although there is a large flurry of these challenges, they seem to be filed more for political reasons and to achieve delay than because of any prospect of …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Reverend Bayes Visits Russia
In a post last week, I discussed how Bayesian analysis could help with determining whether certain events are due to climate change — and by the same token, how events can help reinforce the evidence for climate change. The Russian heat wave is a case in point. As the Economist explains: According to Geert Jan …
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CONTINUE READINGTell Your Reverend To Go Jump In The Lake
Dan, your post is thoroughly persuasive to me, but I’m not sure that it would persuade many climate skeptics. There are two reasons for this: 1) You assume that there is at least a 50/50 chance of climate change occurring. That is a highly conservative assumption — except for climate skeptics. Most climate skeptics are …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Reverend Bayes Visits Lake Mead
Land Letter reports that Lake Mead has continued to recede in the face of an 11-year drought, as we are apparently heading into a La Nina period that will probably continue the drought. This will put some pressure on adaptation measures, particular in terms of Las Vegas: For Las Vegas, which draws 90 percent of …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change, Afghanistan, and the Model Penal Code
It’s hard to look at this week cover of Time and not want to remain in Afghanistan. That was probably the magazine’s intention. But let’s do a quick cost-benefit analysis here. I have argued elsewhere that we could save far more women from repression, violence, and brutality by taking all the money and effort we are …
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CONTINUE READINGUpton Sinclair and Climate Change (Lack of) Policy
You know that things are getting bad when cool-and-collected Ann Carlson asks whether climate deniers and foot-draggers can sleep at night. It seems to me, though, that there is a pretty straightforward answer, courtesy of Upton Sinclair: It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. …
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CONTINUE READINGWhile Rome (Moscow) Burns, Pakistan and China Flood, Washington Does Nothing
Grim — almost apocalyptic — headlines seem to greet us daily. Pakistan faces the worst floods in almost a century, displacing millions from their homes and killing thousands. The UN is calling the floods “the greatest humanitarian crisis” the organization has ever faced. Russia swelters in unprecedented heat accompanied by horrific air quality. The average daily death …
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