Climate Change
IPhone App to Counter Climate Skeptics
Jonathan and I have had a somewhat spirited debate about what to do about Climategate (see here and here). I just found one perhaps small but very smart answer: an IPhone app that lists top arguments from climate skeptics and succinct rebuttals. The arguments are divided into three categories: “it’s not happening,” “it’s not us” …
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CONTINUE READINGAB 32 Opposition and Truth in Advertising
While some politicians have called publicly for the suspension of AB 32 until the economy recovers (see here and here for details), a more behind-the-scenes effort to undercut the implementation of California’s global warming bill is also taking place. The AB 32 Implementation Group (“IG”) says it “represents large and small business that are vital to …
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CONTINUE READINGExtreme Events
I spent yesterday at a conference at RFF on managing “tail risks” — the low-probability but extreme events that are on the tail of the probability distribution. Some probability distributions have what are called fat tails, meaning that the extreme events are more likely than you would expect from a normal distribution. One way of …
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CONTINUE READINGChina, Energy and the Economy
The New York Times reported — with seeming alarm — this weekend that China is now leading the world in the manufacture of wind turbines and solar panels. Yet shouldn’t we view this news as good for efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Action by the U.S. to reduce emissions, while absolutely necessary for geopolitical …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Corporate Side of Climate Change
I was surprised a few years ago when one of the speakers at a conference on climate change turned out to be a lead partner at a Wall Street law firm who counseled corporations about disclosure of climate risks. He may have been just a few years ahead of the curve. According to E&E News, …
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CONTINUE READINGPriming the Political Pump for Climate Legislation
Dan, Rick, and Jonathan have all discussed the implications of the political events of the last week for climate change policy. Certainly, it seems clear that both from a vote-counting perspective and from a political momentum perspective, the special election last week made passage of a climate change bill through the Senate generally harder. And …
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CONTINUE READINGMassachusetts’ Special Election & the Prognosis for U.S. Climate Change Legislation
Colleague Jonathan Zasloff recently opined on this site that Scott Brown’s election to the open U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts could actually be good news when it comes to prospects for passage of federal climate change legislation. Let me file a congenial dissent to Jonathan’s prediction, though one that–like his–contains some seeds of optimism. I …
CONTINUE READINGCarbon Tweets
Do you twitter? If so, you might be interested in this feature at the Washington Post, which aggregates tweets relating to climate issues.
CONTINUE READINGCampaign to Suspend AB 32 Unlikely to Go Anywhere
Last Monday, the Wall Street Journal editorialized in favor of both a bill and a newly filed ballot initiative to suspend the implementation of California’s landmark greenhouse gas emissions legislation, AB 32, until the state’s unemployment rate falls from it’s current 12+ % to under 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. On the same day the …
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CONTINUE READINGIndian Federalism and Climate Change
Federalism is a hot topic (so to speak) for scholars working on climate change, but we have so far remained resolutely at home, focusing solely on American federalism. It’s now time to start thinking about how federalism might impact India, which has maintained a federal system for more than 60 years, and has decentralized greatly in …
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