Politics

Another One Bites The Dust

New Peer-Reviewed Study Shows That “Global Warming Hiatus” Is Bogus

One of the most annoying climate-denial memes has been the supposed “global warming hiatus.” It goes something like this: 1998 was a spectacularly hot year. It has not been as hot since then, thus global warming has stopped. Anyone with a passing familiarity with variance should see right through that one, but now we have …

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A (Previously) Unsung Environmental Champion

John Podesta Is (Finally) Getting Some Credit: What Might It Mean for a President Hillary Clinton?

If you don’t read the High Country News, you should: it is a tremendously good independent source for environmental news, particularly news affecting the Intermountain West. And particularly given the collapse in a lot of good journalism, it is important to support it. HCM’s most recent issue, though, is less Wyoming and more Beltway. It …

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Lindsey Graham: Defining Environmentalism Down

Voters Elect Parties, Not Individuals

The New Republic’s breathless headline this morning announces that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who today became the one millionth Republican to announce a Presidential bid, is “A Republican That Environmentalists Can Love.” Right on cue, The Christian Science Monitor just as breathlessly called Graham “The Republican Who Wants to Tackle Climate Change.” Obviously, Graham’s people …

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Jeb, the Pope and Climate Change

Maybe we need to pay more attention to the link between religion and environmentalism.

Jeb Bush’s environmental views seem to be evolving.  At a recent speech at Liberty University, he had this to say about environmental protection: “America’s environmental debates, likewise, can be too coldly economical, too sterile of life . . . Christians see in nature and all God’s creatures designs grander than any of man’s own devising, the …

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All This, and the Environment, Too?

Israel’s New Government Might De-emphasize Environmental Protection

It’s hardly news that Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government is the most right-wing in the country’s history, stoking dismay in the White House and in the international community. But this hardly implies a lack of environmental concern. Tzachi Hanegbi, Ariel Sharon’s Environmental Protection Minister and a Likud hard-liner, did a professional and highly competent job in …

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The UnBushes and the Environment

Cruz, Graham, Paul, Rubio & West are all equally hostile to environmental protection.

My post last week discussed Jeb Bush’s environmental record. At this point, there’s something of a free-for-all among candidates hoping to emerge as the Bush alternative – the UnBushes. Five of the remaining candidates announced or likely candidates have served in Congress, so they have scores from the League of Conservation Voters. Some of them are considered more …

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Abalones and Gulls and Judges, Oh My!

Comparing the Mono Lake Committee with the Abalone Alliance

For several months now, I have been looking for a good comparison case to the Mono Lake Committee, whose work is one of the great success stories of the modern environmental movement. Why did the Mono Lake Committee succeed when other organizations failed? Lots of organizations had good causes and dedicated leaders: what made Mono …

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Is Jeb Too Green?

GOP Primary voters may think so.

At this point,  the GOP Presidential field looks like Jeb Bush versus Everyone Else.  (Of course, there’s a big fight over who get’s to play Everyone Else when this particular play opens in Iowa and New Hampshire.) It’s an open question whether Jeb will turn out to be too green for the average GOP primary voter. …

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Climate Fatigue

You might be tired of climate change. But climate change isn’t tired of you.

I gather that people are tired of hearing about climate change.  I’m tired of hearing about climate change, too. Sadly, Nature just doesn’t care  that much about entertaining us.  It’s going to be climate change this year, climate change next year, climate change the year after that . . . But don’t worry, it won’t …

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Culture Wars at the Supreme Court

A new book examines the roots of judicial conflict in environmental law.

Views on environmental issues are related to broader culture differences.  According to social scientists, environmentalists tend to be egalitarian, believe in harmony with nature, and stress responsibility over autonomy.  Their opponents, who are skeptical about regulation, tend to favor traditional hierarchies, believe in human mastery of nature, and stress autonomy over responsibility. Jon Cannon’s new book, Environment …

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