A commenter (“Joshua”) at Climate Etc observes: How anyone can not see the tribal character of the combatants on both sides of this debate is astounding to me. Ensuing responses in the thread indicate that Climate Etc denizens don’t see this, so “Joshua” elaborated: My point is that a baseline assumption for everyone involved should…Continue Reading…
With stories such as this and this becoming more common, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would show why energy security is no longer a winning issue for climate change advocates. Today, Michael Lind makes the case in Salon: As everyone who follows news about energy knows by now, in…Continue Reading…
Over at the new incarnation of Think Progress, Brad Johnson has given himself a tall order. He also sets down what he calls the “new reality”: The Kyoto Protocol is in shambles, greenhouse pollution is at record levels, and climate disasters are growing in frequency and intensity. To preserve the promise of civilization, we must start anew. My guess…Continue Reading…
Last week, NBC weatherman Al Roker caught a lot of flak (deservedly so) for suggesting that climate change was now causing tornadoes to strike urban areas. Not all hope is lost for broadcast news, though. Last night, this segment on the PBS News Hour (the one place where talking heads can be relied on for…Continue Reading…
Below is a guest post from Jonathan Gilligan, an associate professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University. He is also the associate director of Vanderbilt’s Climate Change Research Network. Gilligan works at “the intersection of science, ethics, and public policy with a focus on the ways in which scientific knowledge and…Continue Reading…
This essay by Bill McKibben is getting a lot of eyeballs. Originally published yesterday in The Washington Post (where it was among the most widely read articles for part of the day), it has since been reproduced in Salon and The Huffington Post. At the Washington Post, the piece thus far has generated over 1200…Continue Reading…
I’ve been traveling, so I’ve only been keeping up with the news sporadically. But this front page NYT story from Monday, about Chicago (and other cities) preparing for climate change, deserves mention. It also highlights the parallel (but strikingly different) universes of the climate change debate. In her piece, Leslie Kaufman nicely displays the disconnect…Continue Reading…
Like a monster in a horror movie, oil might prove tough to kill off. This front-page story in today’s WSJ ought to give climate concerned folk the shudders. Because it’s behind a pay wall, I’m going to quote extensively from the piece, including this set-up: The Arabian Peninsula has fueled the global economy with oil…Continue Reading…
Many have noted the repetitive loop of global climate change talks. I think the global sustainability debate is suffering from the same Groundhog Day syndrome. Consider that 16 U.N.-sponsored climate summits have taken place since 1995. (The 17th is later this year in South Africa). This is rivaled by 19 annual sessions of the U.N. Committee on Sustainable…Continue Reading…
This is a priceless post that suggests Grist editors are not reading what goes up on the site, much less editing any of it. Just for kicks, I’m gonna break down the first three graphs: So, the world did not end on Saturday. Harold Camping’s predicted Judgment Day and “Rapture” failed. I wonder how disappointed his…Continue Reading…