Culture & Ethics
Women Know More About Climate Change, Men Think They Do
Sociologist Aaron McCright, in a recently published academic article, analysed 7 years of Gallup polling data on environmental issues (from 2001-2008) and reached these startling (not) conclusions: women have a greater scientific understanding of climate change than men do; women are more likely than men to worry that climate change is a large problem; but men think they …
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CONTINUE READINGAnd They’re Off…California Proposes New Chemical Regulations
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control just released its proposed “green chemistry” regulations. The regulations implement Assembly Bill 1879, which is a potential game-changer in how chemicals are regulated. Eschewing the conventional risk management approach embedded in existing federal and state statutes, the regulations require affected manufacturers to engage in an alternatives analysis of consumer …
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CONTINUE READINGPolitics versus Science in the 2010 Election Cycle
Here’s some fairly depressing news from Wonk Room: Remarkably, of the dozens of Republicans vying for the 37 Senate seats in the 2010 election, only one — Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware — supports climate action. Even former climate advocates Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) now toe the science-doubting party line. …
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CONTINUE READINGHot Off the Presses
So to speak. Our friend and colleague Matt Kahn’s new book, Climatolopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future, has just been published. Matt is a real rarity among economists in two ways: 1) He writes in English; and 2) He does not think that economics can explain everything and anything, and has …
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CONTINUE READINGNational Conversation on Chemical Exposure Drafts Available
I previously wrote about the National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures, the effort by the CDC and ATSDR to develop recommendations for action regarding chemical exposures. The National Conversation formed a series of work groups to focus on a set of specific areas, and develop draft recommendations. Today through September 20th, the draft …
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CONTINUE READINGFollow-up on refrigeration: the history of the idea of food “freshness”
My colleague Jonathan Zasloff’s recent post on refrigeration reminded me of a fascinating book published last year: Fresh, by Susanne Freidberg. This book — authored by a college classmate of mine who teaches geography at Dartmouth — chronicles the evolution of the culturally-constructed concept of “freshness” in 19th and 20th-century America, and the development of …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA proposes fuel economy letter grade labels for cars
New labels proposed by the federal government would give new cars letter grades reflecting their fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions. Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are expected to get the highest grades. The rule isn’t final yet; the public can comment and make suggestions on the label design. Most of us are familiar with …
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CONTINUE READINGOn the Lack of a Refrigerator
So my family just moved into a new house the other day, but the refrigerator won’t arrive from the factory for another few days. This condition has vast environmental implications. Really. My headache for the past few days has been: how to store food? Even I have the basic competence to prepare a meal without …
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CONTINUE READINGChina Needs the Straddling Bus More Than We Do
Jonathan just blogged about the very cool concept of the straddling bus, designed to go over automobiles and reportedly being built in China starting next month. His blog coincides with lots of attention focused on the mother of all traffic jams occuring right now outside of Bejing: a 60 mile long, multi-day jam comprised mostly of …
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CONTINUE READINGToo Cool to Avoid Blogging — The Straddling Bus
Critics of subways often argue, correctly, that they are very, very expensive. They argue much less correctly that they aren’t worth it from a cost-benefit perspective. (I’ll believe when they add in the subsidies for roads and automobiles, price auto traffic like they do with rail, and stop using tendentious examples to criticize high-speed rail). …
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