Politics
…in which I become petty and backbiting — sort of
Elena Kagan might not be the greatest scholar in the world — and that might be why President Obama appoints her to the Supreme Court.
CONTINUE READINGAppeals to Conserve Energy May Backfire with Conservatives
UCLA economists Dora Costa and Matt Kahn just released this paper about whether “nudges” from a utility to conserve energy — in this case information about energy consumption relative to neighbors and relative to earlier time periods — succeed in lowering usage. Though the authors find that many factors contribute to lowered consumption, including whether a …
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CONTINUE READINGWill the BP Oil Spill Change Public Policy?
The oil spill catastrophe now engulfing the Gulf Coast brings home in incredibly vivid detail the ways in which human activity can damage the earth. This is in stark contrast to climate change, for example, where the changes caused by accumulating greenhouse gas emissions are hard to see and where actions today will only affect the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Looming Political Battle Over AB 32 & California’s Environmental & Economic Future
Today, proponents of an initiative measure designed to “suspend” California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) are scheduled to submit signatures to state election officials designed to qualify the measure for the November 2010 ballot. Bankrolled by two Texas-based oil companies, Tesoro Corporation and Valero Energy Corporation, the initiative measure would preclude …
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and Two Forms of Justice
Via David Brooks today, Jim Manzi from several months ago makes an intriguing argument regarding the equities of international climate change policy. Developing nations consistently say that developed countries should pay for the lion’s share of climate mitigation because developed countries have caused the problem. But says Manzi, What this ignores is that the reason …
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CONTINUE READINGMore Bad News on Climate: Boxer is in Deep Trouble
Barbara Boxer has been a US Senator for 18 years. She is chair of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, and is a real environmental hero. If we ever get a climate bill, she will have a lot to do with it. And she is also in deep political trouble. Take a look at …
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CONTINUE READINGNews Flash: Senate Will Consider Climate Bill First
It looks like Senator Graham won his fight with the Democratic party leadership over timing: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he is willing to bring up climate change legislation ahead of an immigration bill, the first step toward resolving a dispute with Senate Republicans that threatened to derail a bipartisan effort months in …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Offshore Oil Drilling Debate–Revisited (Again)
Earlier this month, the Sacramento Bee published an interesting point-counterpoint debate over the wisdom of re-commencing offshore oil drilling in the U.S., with a particular focus on California and the West Coast. Arguing in favor of the proposition was U.C. Santa Barbara Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies Eric R.A.N. Smith, who maintained that …
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CONTINUE READINGBeing Lindsey Graham
I posted over the weekend about Lindsey Graham’s about-face on the climate bill. The Washington Post has a more sympathetic view, which I thought I should report out of fairness: And this is why Graham is angry: He’s taken a huge risk to be the lone Republican on climate change. Patrick Creighton, a flack for …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Bill 2.0 on Hold
Senator Graham has announced that he’s withdrawing from the effort to pass the bill that he helped to draft, because he’s irked that the Administration is pressing forward on immigration reform. I’m struggling a bit to understand this. The charitable explanation is that he’s trying to pressure the administration into giving the climate bill priority. …
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