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By Beverly Gage
$18.45
By Emma Donoghue
$13.72
$24
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Flickr / Gerry Dincher (CC-BY-SA)
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Last month, the investigative journalism nonprofit ProPublica published a report that highlights how dangerously little scientists and government officials know about the health consequences of living near a natural gas drilling site.
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By Dan Becker and James Gerstenzang —
In a largely hidden component of its attack on the federal budget, the House of Representatives has approved a key Republican campaign promise to big business: protecting it from what the new majority calls the handcuffs of environmental safeguards.
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By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica —
The United States is poised to bet its energy future on natural gas as a clean, plentiful fuel that can supplant coal and oil. But new research by the Environmental Protection Agency is casting doubt on the assumption that gas offers a quick and easy solution to climate change.
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Flickr / CaptainBuilder
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Though it was politically vague and took no immediate action, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will put some regulatory pressure on power plants and oil refineries to limit greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2012.
Posted on Dec 24, 2010
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Wikimedia Commons
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Amid recession worries and economic hardships, much of the industrialized world has pushed international goals of curbing climate change far off into the future. Politicians are wavering over caps on carbon emissions, citing the economic costs of cutting emissions.
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Flickr / Dodo-Bird (CC-BY)
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Scientists once thought all that carbon dioxide that humans have been pumping into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution kicked off might be good for plants (even if it hotboxes the planet in the process), but recent studies show we have a lot to worry about. (continued)
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Flickr / Studio d'Xavier
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Cap and trade was all the rage back in 2009, with the market-driven system of curbing emissions seen as a dominant force in addressing global warming problems. Now the concept has seemingly fallen out of favor.
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Flickr / azrainman
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A new government report has found that the United States will import almost as much foreign oil 25 years from now as it does today. Pitiful policy initiatives simply haven’t done enough to fulfill the stated ambition of just about every administration since Richard Nixon’s—to liberate the homeland from a dangerous dependency on energy imports. (Continued)
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Wikimedia Commons / Ansgar Walk
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The U.S. government is finally jumping on the green bandwagon, announcing it will make efforts to cut energy use and reduce emissions by 28 percent by 2020, a move that could save $8 billion to $11 billion. The reduction figure is based on 2008 levels.
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en.cop15.dk
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A lot of hoopla, and even hope, went into this month’s Copenhagen climate convention, and leaders from a slew of nations showed up to try to strike an agreement. So why wasn’t a bigger, better deal reached by the end of their power huddle?
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problembear.wordpress.com
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The world leaders who showed up for the final stretch of the Copenhagen climate summit, perhaps assuming that their lesser representatives would have paved the way for a relatively easy finale, were in for some long hours and tough talks lasting into the night. Things didn’t go as planned, it seems, and rifts between countries weren’t being resolved in time Friday to strike the deals they sorely needed to make. Updated
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AP / Anja Niedringhaus
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In a move to ostensibly “save” the United Nations’ climate talks in Copenhagen, the U.S. has pledged to support a $100 billion multilateral fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change and develop environmentally friendly technologies.
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AP / Ross D. Franklin
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By Eugene Robinson — Back in the heady days of 2008, as governor of our most at-risk state, Sarah Palin sounded a dire warning against climate change. What a difference a book tour makes.
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Flickr / ianduffy
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Who needs Congress? The EPA officially determined Tuesday that “greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten the public health and welfare of the American people.” Under the Clean Air Act and with the blessing of the Supreme Court, the agency might now be able to regulate emissions that contribute to the climate crisis. (continued)
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AP / Haraz N. Ghanbari
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By Dan Becker and James Gerstenzang —
In Copenhagen, a major binding agreement at the global warming summit is not to be. Not this year. In Washington, the Senate is so divided that it became clear months ago that climate legislation will be pushed off until 2010 at the earliest. Still, the United States can meet the challenge of a world demanding that it take the lead on global warming. Here’s how.
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en.cop15.dk
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The United States will take part, after all, in next month’s United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen. President Barack Obama will attend the meeting, if only for a day, to do his part for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the White House also announced ... (continued)
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Richard Ellis
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President Obama has lowered the bar for December’s Copenhagen climate change conference by talking down the importance of arriving at an agreement on global warming by the end of the year. Obama’s position contradicts the United Nations and others who see the conference in Denmark as a crucial moment for stemming climate change.
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watersecretsblog.com
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Researchers have issued a report declaring that climate change is already killing 300,000 people a year and that the number will only increase as heat, flood, storm and fire combine to create “the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces.”
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cachefly.net
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Al Gore went back to his old stomping grounds Wednesday to present the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with a mini version of his famous climate lecture. But even if those politicians somehow get their act together, the damage we’ve already caused will be with us until the year 3000 or later, according to a new report.
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AP photo / Paul Sancya
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By Michael D. Intriligator — Considering only two options for an imperiled General Motors —either bailout by the U.S. government or bankruptcy—omits an important alternative, which I see as the best option: a takeover of GM by Toyota Motor Corp.
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flickr.com
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Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggested Monday that a decrease in individual meat consumption could provide the most immediate and feasible strategy for reducing the effects of global warming. In fact, only 13 percent of global greenhouse emissions come from transportation (planes, trains and automobiles), while a whopping 18 percent of the emissions come from the planet’s livestock industry.
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wikimedia.org
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China’s unceasing economic growth has always worried environmentalists, and a new report by the Center for Global Development may put those concerns on a new level. After increasing power-plant emissions by a third this year, China’s coal-based power sector is poised to be the most polluting in the world ... even worse than that of the United States.
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Flickr / jslander
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Starting with 2009 models, new cars in California will sport a sticker that rates just how environmentally friendly they are, based on emissions and fuel economy. Not to be outdone, the European Union might require governments to monetize and budget for emissions.
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treehugger.com
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While environmentalists and opponents of foreign oil may have found common cause in the use of biofuels, a new, confidential World Bank report estimates that the recent increase in plant-based fuel production has actually contributed to a 75 percent rise in global food prices, sparking riots across the world and pushing millions beneath the poverty line.
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Flickr / BBQ Junkie
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Here’s a little something to get that dad or grad you may have missed these last couple of weeks: Honda is rolling out the first commercially available hydrogen fuel-cell car. They get great mileage, emit only water vapor and run real smooth, provided they don’t Hindenburg. True to form, some Southern Californians are already on the waiting list.
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Flickr / alforque
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A former EPA official, Jason Burnett, told congressional investigators that the White House interfered in a decision regarding California’s regulation of carbon emissions. EPA staff members were unanimous in supporting California’s right to tougher restrictions, Burnett said, but after the agency spoke with the White House and got “input into the rationale” from Bush aides, the state’s request was denied.
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philadelphiaweekly.com
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During his midnight Christmas mass at the Vatican on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI paid special attention to what he called the “ill-treated world” and our “selfish and reckless exploitation” of energy. He’s not just all talk: it turns out the Vatican bought carbon credits this holiday season to offset emissions. It’s just a little present to the world from the biggest little city in Italy.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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California is sick of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to block two-year-old legislation that would cut auto emissions in the state well beyond federal guidelines, and the state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the agency, which under the Bush administration has failed utterly in its principal mandate.
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nytimes.com
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Leave it to George W. Bush to disappoint already low expectations. The president unveiled his dud of a plan to combat the climate crisis at a highly publicized meeting Friday of the world’s 16 biggest polluters.
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indybay.org
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Celebrity Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and environmental superstar Al Gore stole the show at Monday’s U.N. climate crisis speechathon, offsetting President Bush’s notable absence. Schwarzenegger rallied the crowd with his unique Hollywood-infused rhetorical flair: “One responsibility we all have is action. Action, action, action.”
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reached a compromise with George W. Bush over climate change. The G-8 nations will work toward a replacement for the Kyoto treaty and a 50 percent cut in emissions by the year 2050. But in a concession to Bush, the goals will be nonbinding.
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President Bush is preparing for next week’s G8 summit in Germany by stressing the importance of long-range environmental action goals for the U.S. and several other nations, including China, to adopt by the end of next year.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned Thursday that the danger posed by war “is at least matched by the climate crisis,” and urged the U.S., which produces roughly 25 percent of all greenhouse emissions, to take a leading role in addressing global warming.
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autointell.de
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The higher cost of hybrid cars is worth it in the long run, according to a comprehensive new study. When considering not just fuel economy but insurance, maintenance, depreciation and other factors, a Toyota Prius owner can expect to save $13,408 over five years, compared with a non-hybrid in the same class.
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America restated its opposition to limiting greenhouse gas emissions during a conference of more than 100 countries searching for a global solution to climate change. According to the U.S. negotiator: “I certainly got no indication [from the Bush administration] that there’s any change in our position, nor is there likely to be during this presidency….”
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James Rogers may head the power industry’s main trade association, but he disagrees with the group’s opposition to emissions caps. The forward-thinking CEO wants energy providers and the Bush administration to accept the reality of global warming and embrace the future: “The science says we need to act.”
Posted on Oct 22, 2006
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California will become the first state to cap greenhouse gas emissions, should a deal reached between Gov. Schwarzenegger and state Democrats pass the Legislature. The deal is seen as a betrayal by Republicans, who oppose a state cap on emissions.
Posted on Aug 30, 2006
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From TreeHugger.com
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A progressive-minded blog called DeepMarket.com is teaming up with CarbonFund.org to offset one ton of carbon emissions for every blog that links to it. (h/t: Tree Hugger)
Hey, blogosphere: Link up! It doesn’t cost you anything.
Posted on Jun 1, 2006
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The man who helped found the environmental aid organization argues that nuclear power—once his sworn enemy—is now the planet’s only hope for slowing global warming.
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Greenhouse gases are being released into the atmosphere at a rate 30 times faster than the rate of emissions that caused a period of intense warming in the Earth’s past, concludes a scientific panel in St. Louis.
Posted on Feb 20, 2006
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Officials tell a global summit that fuel-efficient technologies will reduce greenhouse emissions. | story Meanwhile, German scientists say that plants may be producing greenhouse gases. | story
Posted on Jan 11, 2006
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