Climate Change

Hard and Easy Environmental Questions: A Talk With Ikal Angelei

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IOw9tsS-aI] Ikal Angelei is one of the world’s pre-eminent environmental justice activists: she is the founder of Friends of Lake Turkana, which (as the name suggests) seeks to preserve Lake Turkana from the massive Gibe III Dam planned by the Ethiopian government and World Bank.  As the name does not suggest, the issue is …

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Can We Convince 500 People That Climate Change Is Important?

You might have noticed that in this election year, climate change has vanished from the national agenda.  There are lots of reasons for that, but in his superb takedown of Ayn Rand-acolyte and pathological liar Paul Ryan, Jonathan Chait may have stumbled on a way out. Chait observes that Ryan’s budget plan does not reduce …

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New journal issue on using the Clean Air Act to address greenhouse gas emissions

UCLA’s Journal of Environmental Law and Policy has just published its current issue, Volume 30, with all its content available free online in pdf format.  This volume is a special symposium issue, featuring articles relating to the use of the Clean Air Act to address greenhouse gas emissions.  Several of the articles’ authors were speakers …

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New Summary Report on California’s Law to Streamline Environmental Review of Infill Projects

As this blog has chronicled, California has undertaken some ambitious efforts to streamline environmental review for certain infill projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). One of the most recent and potentially far-reaching attempts, SB 226 (Simitian, 2011), creates an in-depth administrative process to define the standards for what constitutes a “good” infill project.  …

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A Side-by-Side Comparison of Romney and Obama on Energy and Environment

I’ve put together a table of language from the issues sections of the official campaign websites dealing with energy and environment. I decided to use the candidate’s own language to avoid interposing my own views on the issues. Please keep in mind that the table uses their language, not mine. Not surprisingly, the candidates frame …

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Follow the Sun: Mexico On Target to Pass National Climate Change Law

With Friday’s lower chamber passage of a new national climate change law, Mexico is poised to become a pioneer in climate change policy, proving the United States and the rest of the world that environmental protection and economic growth are both critical and achievable goals. On April 13, Mexico’s 500-member Chamber of Deputies passed the …

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Public Opinion on Environment and Energy

Gallup has issued the results of a very interesting poll about environment and energy. Here are their findings: There’s surprisingly broad support for more vigorous environmental enforcement and more clean energy, including about half of Republicans.  The reason for the partisan gap is that there’s such strong support among Democrats, not so much that all …

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How California could surpass $1 billion in cap-and-trade auction revenue by 2013

Last week I did a series of posts examining the amount and  potential price ranges for allowances in California’s upcoming cap-and-trade auctions for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Knowing the estimated auction clearing price plus the estimated number of allowances to be sold at auction tells us the estimated revenue from that auction. Several estimates of …

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Could Self-Driving Cars Help The Environment?

As companies like Google pioneer technologies to allow cars to drive themselves, futurists have been imagining a world where autonomous vehicles rule the roadway. Using computer programs, map data, complex sensors, and soon the ability to “see” all vehicles within miles, these cars hold the promise of averting the vast majority of car accidents caused …

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Will Estrogen Save the Planet?

At least some researchers think so.  According to a new study in Social Science Research, “controlling for other factors, in nations where women’s status is higher, CO2 emissions are lower.” Study coauthors Christina Ergas and Richard York, sociologists at the University of Oregon, write: even when controlling for a variety of measures of “modernization,” world-system …

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