Climate Change
Tracking state climate policy
The New America Foundation has released a new tool for tracking state climate planning and policy efforts. The Foundation’s State Climate Policy Tracker compiles publicly available information about the measures states are implementing, the degree of progress, and their potential GHG emission reductions. According to the Foundation: Since 2006, 33 U.S. states have created climate …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate change threatens human health
A new report in The Lancet (registration required to access the full document), a leading international medical journal, provides more backing for EPA’s proposed finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health as well as public welfare. From the multi-authored report’s executive summary: Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate bill has votes to get through key House panel, says Waxman
Breaking news: Greenwire (via the New York Times) and Grist.com are reporting that Rep. Henry Waxman said tonight he “believe[s] we’ll have the votes for passage” to move his climate bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Rep. Waxman “expects” to have sufficient votes but takes a tone of skepticism.) Waxman …
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CONTINUE READING“Smoking gun” OMB memo on EPA climate change rulemaking is not what it seems
As Dan has mentioned, there has been a bit of a dust-up over a document in EPA’s rulemaking docket relating to EPA’s recent finding that greenhouse gases pose an endangerment to public health and welfare. As Dan notes, the memo, apparently originating at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is harshly critical …
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CONTINUE READINGDitching cap and trade (the phrase, not the proposal)
Looks like the White House is taking note of the same polling data Dan blogs about here on the public’s antipathy toward, or misunderstanding of, the phrase “cap and trade”. This from the LA Times, in a story generally chronicling the administration’s efforts to figure out the best language and framing for its climate policies: …
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CONTINUE READINGPika next test for the ESA?
If you think the polar bear wrangling has been fun, stay tuned. FWS has announced that it will review the status of the American pika to determine if listing is warranted (hat tip: EarthJustice). The pika, also known as the “rock rabbit,” is a cute little creature found in the mountains of the western U.S. …
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CONTINUE READINGRagging on Climate Change
OMB’s memo exhibits shocking disregard of or ignorance of the law.
CONTINUE READINGThe virtual carbon footprint
Is your computer saving the environment or destroying it? Computer use has become a major energy sink both in the U.S. and worldwide. And it’s not just the computer on your desk. Duncan Graham-Rowe reports in New Scientist that the internet, including data centers as well as computers and peripherals linked to those centers “could …
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CONTINUE READINGCap and Trade? Huh??
It turns out that hardly anyone except politicos and policy wonks knows what cap-and-trade means or that it relates to climate change. According to Rasmussen, Given a choice of three options, just 24% of voters can correctly identify the cap-and-trade proposal as something that deals with environmental issues. A slightly higher number (29%) believe the …
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CONTINUE READINGA New Website on Climate Economics
Real Climate Economics offers a wealth of information from a pro-regulatory perspective: The Real Climate Economics website offers a reader’s guide to the real economics of climate change, an emerging body of scholarship that is consistent with the urgency of the problem as seen from a climate science perspective. As the climate policy debate intensifies, …
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