Climate Change
Meat and climate change redux
Back in January, I blogged about the link between meat production and GHGs. Grist.org has taken up this issue recently, with an interesting article by Tom Philpott making the case that U.S. livestock production is a significant contributor to GHG emissions, and a rebuttal from farmer Eliot Coleman. As Philpott’s article notes, a U.N. FAO …
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CONTINUE READINGMore on reengineering – what about the oceans?
Regarding Dan’s post on reengineering the planet, one more shortcoming of the commonly discussed geoengineering solutions (even assuming they work exactly as designed and have none of the unintended consequences Dan, and others, fear) is that they are far from complete, leaving out entirely any remedy for ocean acidification, the “other” greenhouse gas problem. More info on …
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CONTINUE READINGChina, Congress and Climate Change
This week brings two related and interesting stories on the prospects for domestic climate change legislation and progress in Copenhagen when the international community gathers in December to try to hammer out a post-Kyoto treaty on climate change. The first is that China’s top climate negotiator is “optimistic” that the international community will reach agreement on …
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CONTINUE READINGNoah’s Art
Having just made my first trip to the Art Institute in Chicago, I was primed for this feature in Grist on the state of climate art. If one can judge a movement by its artists, it seems we still have a fair ways to go–though I like this Venus. Also like this slideshow of climate activists around …
CONTINUE READINGOffsets and Waxman Markey
Will the massive number of offsets allowed under the proposed Waxman-Markey climate change bill destroy its effectiveness? Waxman-Markey allows for a huge number of offsets from both domestic and international sources – up to 2 billion tons. Some analysts estimate that if all of these offsets are used domestic emissions will not begin to decline until …
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CONTINUE READINGWater for Power Plants: A Major Concern All of Its Own
As the demand for freshwater grows and supplies dwindle, should water use become a major factor in choosing new sources of electric power? That is a question addressed recently in a hearing sponsored by a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology. The United States Geological Survey says that 48 percent of …
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CONTINUE READINGNate Silver’s Challenge to Climate Denialists: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Nate Silver, the well-known statistical and polling guru, has issued this challenge to climate change denialists on his website: The rules of his challenge are as follows: 1. For each day that the high temperature in your hometown is at least 1 degree Fahrenheit above average, as listed by Weather Underground, you owe him $25. …
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CONTINUE READINGFour Years Later, and Still No Real Plan
A new report by the National Research Council gives “thumbs down” to the Army Corps’ plans for preventing another Katrina disaster. This is the kind of planning that we simply have to learn to do right– not just for the sake of those immediately at risk, but because rising sea level and more extreme weather …
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CONTINUE READINGWaxman Markey, the Clean Air Act and State Climate Legislation
As I suggested last week, the prospects for the Waxman-Markey bill passing Congress this term don’t seem particularly high. President Obama is expending significant political capital on health care reform. The Senate is occupied with the Sotomayor Supreme Court hearings. And the politics of climate legislation may be even tougher in the Senate than in …
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CONTINUE READINGA Silver Lining to the Supreme Court Term for Environmentalists?
In assessing the environmental train wreck that was the just-concluded Supreme Court Term, the question arises: is there anything from that Term from which environmental interests can take comfort? The answer is at least a qualified “yes.” Somewhat lost in the attention focused on the justices’ five major environmental decisions–all of them clear defeats for …
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