Climate Change
A Lot of Hot Air
One of the arguments that pro-“cap and traders” like to make against a carbon tax is that the outcome of a tax is too uncertain. Like Goldilocks, you may end up with a tax that is too weak or too strong. If it’s too weak, the desired environmental emissions targets may not be met; too …
Continue reading “A Lot of Hot Air”
CONTINUE READINGUpdate on DeChristopher trial
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson has ruled that Tim DeChristopher, the student who bid on federal oil and gas leases to protest global warming, cannot present a necessity defense in his criminal trial. The decision is not a surprise. The necessity defense typically faces a high bar in US courts, which require that the defendant …
Continue reading “Update on DeChristopher trial”
CONTINUE READINGEverything You Always Wanted to Know About China But Were Afraid to Ask
As President Obama heads to China, the World Resource Institute has launched a very interesting new website devoted to China, energy, and climate change. The chart above is an example of the kind of information on the website. Notice for example the important role of manufacturing emissions on the Chinese side versus transportation emissions on …
Continue reading “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About China But Were Afraid to Ask”
CONTINUE READINGTo auction or not to auction
In the comments to a recent post, Red Desert raises a good question about the application of cap-and-trade to greenhouse gases. Red points to this report in The Wonk Room of a letter signed by 14 Democratic senators asking that the leadership “ensure that emission allowances allocated to the electricity sector – and thus, electricity …
Continue reading “To auction or not to auction”
CONTINUE READINGMore on the recent Pew poll and on debating the science
My colleague Steve Weissman writes well here about the recently released Pew poll on Americans’ beliefs about climate change. Like Steve, I find the most troubling statistics from the poll to be the plunging numbers of people who seem to believe the underlying science. This is from Pew’s write-up: 57% [of all respondents] think there is solid evidence that the …
Continue reading “More on the recent Pew poll and on debating the science”
CONTINUE READINGSuperFreakonomics and Climate Change
If you haven’t been following the controversy that has erupted with the publication of SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, you should be. In SuperFreakonomics — the sequel to Steven Levitt and Stephen Duber’s wildly popular Freakonomics — the authors take on climate change. Their arguments are somewhat …
Continue reading “SuperFreakonomics and Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change versus the Benzene Case
The Benzene Case — more properly, Industrial Union Dept. v. American Petroleum Inst. — is almost thirty years old, but is still the Supreme Court’s most important statement on risk regulation. After considering mountains of evidence, OSHA issued a rule restricting benzene in the workplace. Benzene was known to be a carcinogen; the evidence was …
Continue reading “Climate Change versus the Benzene Case”
CONTINUE READINGOne-Stop Shopping for Climate Information
CITRIS, which is a University of California engineering consortium, has a really useful site called Climate Navigator. The site is a great source of information about the many dimensions of climate change, from policy to energy technology. One neat feature is an interactive model that allows you to design your own global climate policy, setting …
Continue reading “One-Stop Shopping for Climate Information”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia water deal struck (just in time for UCLA event)
After months (years) of negotations, the California legislature has passed what many are calling the most comprehensive California water legislation in half a century. The task was difficult: Figure out a way to fix our ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin delta; address shortfalls in water supply affecting urban, agricultural, and environmental interests; anticipate additional shortfalls and water supply …
Continue reading “California water deal struck (just in time for UCLA event)”
CONTINUE READING