Climate Change
Simple Answers to Simple Questions
After noting some positive poll results regarding climate change, Cara asks: So, can we get cracking on a clean energy and jobs bill in the Senate? No. This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
CONTINUE READINGNot-horrible climate polling news
Yes, it’s been a bad few months for climate science, as Ann wrote. And it also hasn’t been great for Congressional climate politics. But, finding hope where I can, I’ll seize on some good (or — at least not terrible) polling news about US support for climate action. Last week, the Yale Project on Climate …
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CONTINUE READINGNew environmental dating site matches fossil fuel industry lobbyists, elected officials
I’ve never been involved in either of two trends that have exploded in recent years: internet dating, and lobbying of federal officials by fossil fuel-based energy-producing companies. But I just learned about a new website that links the two. The site, Polluter Harmony, says it “is the #1 matchmaking site for polluters, industry lobbyists, & politicians.” Although …
CONTINUE READINGThe New Federal Climate Agency
The administration creates a new federal climate agency; let’s put it in the right place.
CONTINUE READINGThe Best Defense….
Ann cautions about downplaying the findings that the IPCC report erred in predicting the melting of Himalayan glaciers by 2035, and in the resistance of researchers to respond to FOIA requests from a climate skeptic site. She’s right. We shouldn’t downplay the reports: instead, we should ridicule them. So the glaciers won’t actually melt by …
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CONTINUE READINGBad Few Months for Climate Science
The bad news for efforts to persuade the public and policy makers that climate change is happening and is human-caused continues. Since the revelation that hackers were circulating emails from climate scientists from the University of East Anglia, two new developments promise to stoke skepticism about climate science and scientists even further. The first is …
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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 READINGThe Obama Administration’s Push for High-Speed Rail
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJhM3BpBPp8] Fresh from a State of the Union Address that focused heavily on domestic economic issues, President Obama and Vice President Biden journeyed to Tampa, Florida last week to announce federal support–and $8 billion in government funding–for high speed rail projects across the country. That’s a most welcome development. American train buffs who’ve traveled in …
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CONTINUE READINGUS reportedly submits Copenhagen Accord pledge today
Reuters is reporting that the US has officially notified the UN today of its intention to associate itself with the Copenhagen Accord negotiated at last month’s FCCC Conference of Parties. No surprises in the content of the pledge: Todd Stern, the top U.S. climate negotiator for the Obama administration, also gave notice that, as expected, it will …
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CONTINUE READINGObama’s SOTU speech on climate change
Last night, President Obama devoted a chunk of his state of the union speech to climate change and energy issues. He focused on the economic benefits of making our society more energy efficient and bringing more renewable power on-line, particularly the job-creation potential. Surprisingly, he didn’t mention the national security benefits of reducing our dependence …
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