Climate Change

China and Climate Change

In a recent lecture at Berkeley, Orville Schell discussed the attitudes of Chinese leaders toward climate change.  One significant factor is the increased understanding of how vulnerable China’s water supply is to climatic changes on the Tibetan Plateau, which is a key source of water for 2 billion Asians.  The speech includes some remarkable photos …

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Free Allowances! Get Your Free Allowances!

From WashPo, The Obama administration might agree to postpone auctioning off 100 percent of emissions allowances under a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas pollution, White House science adviser John P. Holdren said today, a move that would please electricity providers and manufacturers but could anger environmentalists. Why would this “anger environmentalists’?  I certainly see …

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Waxman-Markey: Adaptation

(This post is co-authored with Alejandro Camacho, Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, and cross-posted with permission from the Center for Progressive Reform blog.) It’s heartening that the recently released Waxman-Markey climate change bill discussion draft includes a lengthy subtitle on Adapting to Climate Change. No matter how rapidly the world acts to …

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The Washington Post versus George Will

The paper seems to be disavowing the views of its own columnist: The new evidence — including satellite data showing that the average multiyear wintertime sea ice cover in the Arctic in 2005 and 2006 was nine feet thick, a significant decline from the 1980s — contradicts data cited in widely circulated reports by Washington …

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Shifting the Regulatory Status Quo: The Case of Climate Change

A basic insight of positive political theory is that the existence of veto points makes it possible for an agenda setter to substantially influence political outcomes.  Essentially, an outcome is viable so long as it satisfies a basic condition: it must be closer than the status quoto to the optimum outcome  for at least one …

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Gorbachev Goes Green

Matt Peterson’s blog reports: President Gorbachev, the founder of Green Cross International (Global Green USA is the American affiliate) . . .  said, “It’s not just a matter of rescuing the world’s economy — there is more at stake. We must not expect the outcome of this crisis will be the replicating of the same …

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Waxman bill on state cap-and-trade efforts

I’ve been reading the Waxman-Markey energy and climate discussion draft released earlier in the week (and blogged about by Rick here).  One thing I’m puzzling over is the draft’s treatment of state cap and trade regulations.  As many have noted, the question of which state climate efforts are saved and which are preempted is an …

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The NY Times’ New Climate Skeptic

Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine story about climate skeptic Freeman Dyson has me worried. For those readers who missed it, the profile is a largely favorable piece about Institute for Advanced Study scholar Dyson, best known for helping unite qunatum and electrodynamic theory and for his belief that nuclear weapons are the world’s greatest evil.   Dyson …

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When Will Congress Act? Our Poll Results

During Obama’s second year in office 43% During Obama’s third or fouth year  29% During Obama’s first year in office 20% Never 6% After the 2012 elections 1 3%

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They’rrreee Off and Running!!!

Today, U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman released a discussion draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). See http://energycommerce.house.gov/. This is a major development, for several reasons. First, ACES represents the 111th Congress’ first foray into the details of proposed climate change legislation–though the newly-released …

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