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December 7th, 2009
Of course, if things go well in Copenhagen, the usual suspects will go wild. We'll hear cries that the whole notion of global warming is a hoax perpetrated by a vast scientific conspiracy, as demonstrated by stolen e-mail messages that show - well, actually all they show is that scientists are human, but never mind. We'll also, however, hear cries that climate-change policies will destroy jobs and growth. The truth, however, is that cutting greenhouse gas emissions is affordable as well as essential.
Featured Issues
The Physics of Copenhagen
Physics has set an immutable bottom line on life as we know it on this planet. For two years now, we’ve been aware of just what that bottom line is: any value for carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere greater than 350 parts per million is not compatible "with the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.” That bottom line won’t change. And here’s the thing: physics doesn’t just impose a bottom line, it imposes a time limit. This is like no other challenge we face because every year we don’t deal with it, it gets much, much worse, and then, at a certain point, it becomes insoluble. Even if, at that point, the U.S. Congress and the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee were to ban all cars and power plants, it would be too late.... more »
The Meaning of Copenhagen
Whether the Copenhagen meeting concludes in "failure" or "success" is a rather secondary question. For this dramatic moment is no finale, but the moment when the powerful forces moving below the surface of the news, when the long pulsations of the human adventure emerge. What is it all about, really? It's the dramatization of the contradiction which has been forged throughout the entire industrial revolution between economic rationale and ecological limits.... more »
Memo to Politico: "ClimateGate" Is a Flop
By Bill Scher
December 10th, 2009
Today's Politico headline from Copenhagen is: "Climategate distracts at Copenhagen." This seems based on a very low bar for what constitutes a distraction. more »
The Case
Why New Energy
The current energy policy is socking our pocketbooks. Families will spend $2,300 more this year to fill up their cars and $1,700 more for home heating oil than at the beginning of the Bush presidency.
And it’s socking our planet. The warning signs of catastrophic climate change are all around us. Arctic ice is melting at a record pace. Wildfires are burning hotter and longer. The lake that supplies water to Phoenix and Las Vegas is drying up. A record number of Category 5 hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic Ocean this decade. Hunting seasons and wildlife habitats are beginning to be adversely impacted.more »
The Challenge
Turning to domestic oil is not a serious option. Not only will that do nothing to reverse global warming, but the oil simply isn’t there. The United States has less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves and imports 60% of the oil we use. We can’t drill our way out of the hole we’re in. The reality is: world oil production is at or near its peak. Global demand for oil—up to 86 million barrels a day—has exhausted spare capacity.
more »
The Facts
The New Apollo Program
The New Apollo Program is a comprehensive economic investment strategy to build America’s 21st century clean energy economy and dramatically cut energy bills for families and businesses. It will generate and invest $500 billion over the next ten years and create more than five million high quality green-collar jobs. It will accelerate the development of the nation’s vast clean energy resources and move us toward energy security, climate stability, and economic prosperity. And it will transform America into the global leader of the new green economy.more »
Repower America
What does it mean that all electricity generation within 10 years will be met only by zero-carbon sources of power? The We Campaign, with assistance and advice from dozens of energy experts, assessed the potential for meeting electricity demand from a combination of well-understood sources: improved energy efficiency, renewable sources like wind, solar, and geothermal, and fossil fuel power plants that capture and store their carbon pollution. Generation from existing carbon-free sources like conventional hydropower and nuclear power plants was assumed to remain unchanged from current levels. The assessments uncovered a variety of plausible Repower America scenarios. more »
The News
Americans Support Obama On Energy Issues
August 31st, 2009
Northwest Glaciers Shrinking Faster
August 7th, 2009
The Case
The Quiet Revolution
These days, liberals don’t know whether to feel betrayed by or merely disappointed with Barack Obama. From health care reform and the public option to Afghanistan, and Wall Street, Obama has thoroughly let down his party’s left flank. Yet there is one extremely consequential area where Obama has done just about everything a liberal could ask for — but done it so quietly that almost no one, including most liberals, has noticed. In doing so, he is resuscitating an entire philosophy of government with roots in the Progressive era of the early twentieth century. Taken as a whole, it is arguably the most significant accomplishment of his first year in office.more »
Low Expectations For Obama’s State of the Union Speech
While it may not be much of a substantive concession, Obama’s spending freeze is a high-profile (and panicky looking) affirmation of basic conservative framing: cutting the deficit is an appropriate response to economic downturn; government spending is bloated; there’s enough “wasteful spending” to trim our way to a balanced budget. The freeze sends the message that the increased support for clean energy RD&D in the stimulus bill was temporary; there will be no sustained national campaign to invest in a bright green future.more »
Latest from our Bloggers
feb
8
2010
1:30 pm
1:30 pm
The White House is trying to show it can still invest in its top priorities while also instituting a freeze on the overall level of non-defense discretionary spending. more »
feb
4
2010
10:31 am
10:31 am
One thing I learned watching the climate debate last year is: don't pick a fight with Joe Romm. more »
dec
23
2009
9:08 am
9:08 am
Depending on your outlook, it's either "Bah Humbug" or a "Happy Holiday," as Senate Democrats approach a historic Christmas Eve vote for the biggest expansion in health care in decades.
The particulars of the health care reform package will be the subject of debate (and revision) for sometime to come. Some of the "winners and losers," thus, will be determined over time. But there are, of course, various takes:
more »dec
21
2009
9:15 am
9:15 am
T'was the weekend before Xmas
And all through the Senate,
There was talk of a bill
With some health care reform in it.With Nelson and Lieberman
Both finally placated,
All that's left, it seems,
Is for the bill to be debated.Progressives may grumble,
But with no worries about Snowe,
Passing a bill in the Senate
Seems almost certainly a "go."
At least that's how Clement Clark Moore might describe the state of affairs in Washington, where Senators wait (and complain about waiting) to vote on the health care reform bill (or what's left of it, depending on your point of view.) With President Obama back in town from Copenhagen, and Republicans unable to stop it, the Senate's health care reform bill seemed likely to pass a key vote in the Senate.
more »dec
18
2009
12:58 pm
12:58 pm
It has been a long tough day filled with rumors in Copenhagen. President Lula of Brazil gave an inspirational speech that potentially broke new ground on the transparency issues while offering to forgo receiving funds from the financing mechanism and offering instead to contribute. He said he was hoping for a miracle. Lula was followed by President Obama. more »
dec
18
2009
12:38 pm
12:38 pm
The heads of state have arrived. We are waiting for President Obama to speak. Inside the Bella Center the exhibit booth hall is quiet with some beginning to pack up. The booths of many of the activist civil society groups were cleared out Wednesday night as the restrictions on NGO groups took hold. They left a stark message behind, a silhouette of a head with tape crossed across the mouth and a poster below saying “How can you decide about us without us.” more »
dec
18
2009
10:00 am
10:00 am
The saga of health care reform continues with a hunt for votes. Next up to call the shots on health care, after Sen. Joe Lieberman, is Ben Nelson(D-AR). After rejecting an abortion compromise, word is that Ben Nelson may join a Republican filibuster. more »
