That Osama Bin Laden. What a carpetbagger. It’s not enough for him to be the front man for a global jihad movement? He’s got to horn in on the biggest environmental issue of the day, too? Seriously, Bin Laden entering the global warming fray is about the last thing climate advocates would want. He’s toxic….Continue Reading…
I have a belated wish for the New Year. I want the CNAS Natural Security bloggers to juice up their posts. I want that blog to generate dialogue and become a must-read in green circles. I’m already a fan, but that’s because I’m interested in the environment/security intersection. So I dutifully check in to see…Continue Reading…
David Roberts is first out of the box to note the obvious, after reading this story in today’s Times, which quotes Republican Lindsey Graham: Realistically, the cap-and-trade bills in the House and the Senate are going nowhere. They’re not business-friendly enough, and they don’t lead to meaningful energy independence. Graham then drives the nail in…Continue Reading…
That wily Frank Luntz. What’s he up to? Last week, the Republican pollster advised enviros on how to sell the congressional climate bill. (Don’t mention polar bears or cap and trade, the bill’s centerpiece. Instead, talk about energy security and jobs.) That’s quite a turnaround from the guy who, in 2002, counseled the Bush Administration…Continue Reading…
Is it official? Can we say the IPCC is having an even worse week than the U.S. Democratic party? First the Himalayan glaciers, then the ongoing Rajendra Pachauri chronicles, and now this story, which is bound to reverberate for days, if not weeks. Let me be the first to point out the common denominator: the…Continue Reading…
Looks like there’s an important new voice in the climate change debate. As Roger Pielke Jr. notes, Bill Gates recently offered some refreshing thoughts on climate policy, starting with this: Conservation and behavior change alone will not get us to the dramatically lower levels of Co2 emissions needed to make a real difference. We need…Continue Reading…
Quirin Schiermeier has a must-read piece (free access) in Nature about the gaps in climate science. It’s a sober and frank examination, placed in a larger (and very helpful) perspective. He lists the bullet points in this blog post: My feature describes unressolved problems in four specific areas – regional climate prediction, precipitation changes, aerosols,…Continue Reading…
In 2007, I wrote a cover story for Audubon magazine about Wyoming’s imperiled sage grouse population. New research had shown that the iconic bird avoided using habitat in the vicinity of roads, gas wells and other related energy infrastructure. All the noise and traffic was a big turnoff. As the scientist who led one of…Continue Reading…
In a recent post and comment elsewhere, I have suggested that better communication will not be enough to convince the masses to embrace climate change as an urgent concern. The philosopher Alain de Botton comes to the same conclusion is this elegant essay: The role of the commentator on the environment is at one level…Continue Reading…
And some climate activists chided me for making hay out of the Mojave desert/renewable energy controversy. Looks like Romm is taking on Feinstein over this and in doing so, he’s ignited a zesty debate among his loyalists, revealing a green schism that is sure to grow wider and nastier. Or has it already? Craig Goodrich,…Continue Reading…