Climate Change
Oil Shale, Greenhouse Gas, and Federal Lands
Back in 2005, a Rand report assessed the merits of pursuing oil shale (a rock formation particularly prevalent in the U.S.) as an option for extracting liquid transportation fuel. The authors said: “Heating oil shale for retorting, whether above ground or in situ, requires significant energy inputs. Over at least the next few decades, this …
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CONTINUE READINGMore on the Bush-era greenhouse gas endangerment recommendation
The release of documents discussed in Holly’s post ends the story of one of the more ridiculous of the last Administration’s unceasing efforts to delay climate change regulation. Scientists and policymakers at EPA had concluded that greenhouse gases were a danger to the public and should be regulated under the Clean Air Act. They sent an email, …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change #7: “But the Earth Abides Forever”
This is the seventh in a series of brief homilies about the lessons of climate change. The text for today’s sermon is from Ecclesiastes: “One generation passes away, and another generation cometh; But the earth abides forever.” The application to climate change is pretty obvious: greenhouse gases can persist in the atmosphere for centuries, and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Low-Carbon Meat Diet
If you’re like me, you like meat. Especially red meat, like a pepper-crusted steak or a juicy burger drizzled with bleu cheese. But if you’re also like me, you’re concerned about climate change and the impact that our lifestyle has on the planet. While hyrbids and CFL light bulbs get a lot of attention, Ezra …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #6: Every Crisis is an Opportunity
This is the sixth in a series of short homilies about the lessons of climate change. It’s not clear who first observed that every crisis is an opportunity. Probably it’s in the Bible somewhere, if not the story of Gilgamesh. But a crisis, painful as it may be, does present opportunities for innovation. In the …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #5: Send Not to Ask For Whom the Bell Tolls
This is the fifth in a series of short homilies on the lessons of climate change. As far back as Sierra Club v. Morton, Justice Blackmun quoted John Dunne, but Dunne’s words seem equally apropos today, particularly for climate change: No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the …
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CONTINUE READINGNew EPA Greenhouse Gas Rulemaking Not Quite What it Seems
EPA is proposing to tailor the major source applicability thresholds for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and title V programs of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and to set a PSD significance level for GHG emissions. This proposal is necessary because EPA expects soon to promulgate regulations …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #4: Small Ordinary Things Add Up in a Big Way
This is the fourth in a series of short homilies about climate change. In terms of climate change, the contribution of any one automobile, light bulb, or felled tree is microscopic. Put enough of these together and you can change the temperature of the world for centuries to come. It’s hard to believe – and …
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CONTINUE READINGIt’s the Enforcement, Stupid!
We rightly celebrate large legislative environmental victories like the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Europeans, too, are proud of accomplishments such as the establishment of the European Union Emission Trading System to address greenhouse gas emissions through cap and trade and the passage of sweeping legislation, …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #3: Everything is Connected to Everything Else
This is the third in a series of short homilies about the lessons of climate change. Barry Commoner called this the first law of ecology. Because “everything is connected to everything else,” he said: the system is stabilized by its dynamic self- compensating properties; these same properties, if overstressed, can lead to a dramatic collapse; …
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