The Broken Legs of the Biggest Elephant in the Room, the US Climate Bill
A brilliantly written article by Lee Wasserman, director of the Rockefeller Family Fund, writing for the NY Times and Huffington Post. Wasserman recognizes the US Senate climate bill for what it was, born to fail. This is not to say we don’t need legislation to fight dangerous climate change. We need a strong, simple, equitable bill, and we need it now.
The CLEAR Act: A Clean, Green and Clear Choice
It’s time for the climate movement to come together, right now, to defend the best option that we have to get decent, badly-needed legislation on climate passed this year, and to push back against the fossil fools. Passage of the CLEAR Act would be a definite step forward, a political tipping point, not the end game but a victory for sure.
Is Cap and Trade Really Dead? Part III
Different models of carbon cap legislation serve different interests. Videos of Parts 4 and 5 of The Real News Network’s coverage of Carbon Cap Legislation. Paul Jay interviews Professor James Boyce of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who is also associated with the PERI Institute
Is “Cap and Trade” Really Dead?
Sadly, many large environmental organizations – as well as Goldman Sachs, big oil and big coal – have also been pushing for the adoption of Cap and Trade legislation, citing concerns that this may be the only politically possible solution for controlling carbon emissions. They have ignored the fact that the flawed multi-billion dollar economic infrastructure Cap-and-Trade would create will be impossible to dismantle once it is shown – and it will be – as disruptive, inefficient and dangerous. But President Obama is going for an energy bill alone, so Cap-and-Trade is dead, at least for now.
James Hansen Against Cap and Trade with Offsets
The proposed climate bills in Congress are loaded with goodies for special financial and corporate interests. These bills would cheat the American public – again. Cap-and-trade was designed in part by Wall Street, which is eager to exploit a trading market expected to grow to two trillion dollars. The revolving door between Washington and Wall Street helped bring the scheme about. Yet Washington appears intent on choosing a path defined by corporate greed. Unless the public gets engaged, the present Administration may jam down the public’s throat just such an approach, which, it can be shown, is not a solution at all.
A Holiday Gift from Climate Scientist James Hansen
For new inspiration and knowledge, we would most like to recognise James Hansen, who with the publication of his book Storms of My Grandchildren has made climate science accessible and interesting to anyone with a high school education.
State of Climate Science: Videos of US Senate Select Committee Hearing
With the international climate change talks in Copenhagen fast approaching, there is real urgency to reach diplomatic consensus on a planetary solution. In a hearing hosted by Chairman Edward J. Markey on December 2, 2009, the US Senate Select Committee explored with climate scientists from the Obama administration, Dr. John Holdren and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the urgent, consensus view on our planetary problem: that global warming is real, and the science indicates that it is getting worse.
James Hansen says whole approach at Copenhagen is “so fundamentally wrong that it is better to reassess the situation”
In an interview with the Guardian, James Hansen, the world’s pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch.
“I would rather it not happen if people accept that as being the right track because it’s a disaster track,” said Hansen, who heads the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.
A Message from James Hansen on Hope of Cutting Global Carbon Emissions
Is it feasible to phase out coal and avoid use of unconventional fossil fuels? Yes, but only if governments face up to the truth: as long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy, their use will continue and even increase on a global basis. Fossil fuels are cheapest because they are not made to pay for their effects on human health, the environment, and future climate.
Intergenerational inequity is a moral issue.
A Conversation With Dr. James Hansen – The Earth Island Institute
The approach that Copenhagen is using to specify goals for emission reductions and then to allow offsets to accomplish much of that reduction is really a fake. For the general public, it actually makes sense to move more rapidly beyond fossil fuels. If world leaders won’t act, civil resistance may have to be an option.
