Auden Schendler’s Posts

• Grace, Dignity, Climate and a New Book on Warming in the West

  Climate change and God 0

  Posted 3 days, 12 hours ago

  There's a great new book out called How the West Was Warmed about responding to climate change in the Rockies.

• How to Actually Solve Climate Change, Part Whatever

  Energy Trust and the Big Hope 13

  Posted 1 week, 2 days agoOne glimmer of hope in the campaign against climate change is called Energy Trust, an organization in Oregon that, if widely copied, would move us well on the way to solving the problem.

• Green Colleges Make Green

  Colleges without rocking enviro programs are failed businesses 5

  Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago

  Even if you didn't care one little tiny bit about climate or environment, as an undergraduate institution you'd create a killer Enviornmental Studies program with a climate focus simply to recruit students and make money as an business.

• How to Make Green Conferences Feel Less Like Capital Punishment

  Sustainability conferences can be boring and terrible 3

  Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago

  Sustainability conferences are now so ubiquitious that you can't swing a cat without hitting one. But I find myself massively dissatisfied by most (though not all) events, which typically bore the crap out of me.

• Why I LIke to Do Battle With the Deniers

  The climate science fight club 14

  Posted 3 months, 1 week ago

  I like to engage in the fight with global warming deniers every once in a while as a sort of bloodsport, a fight club. It gets the blood flowing, like a good workout at the gym or a big cup of coffee.

All Posts

Auden Schendler’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Jesse: I guess I fundamentally disagree with you on multiple points, and with limited time (it's election day and we're helping to run this campaign: www.voteyes1A.org) I'll steer readers to Joe Romm's response to Breakthrough Institute analysis. http://climateprogress.org/2009/09/28/markey-the-breakthrough-institute-romm-technology-climate-bill/.On Energy Trust and the Big Hope posted 4 days, 8 hours ago 13 Responses

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  Jesse: I'd agree with you if there weren't such extreme urgency on the climate issue. What you're suggestiong simply won't stabilize warming at or below 2 degress C, or 450 ppm. And worse, the technological implementation can't happen fast enough without a carbon price signal. What you describe is beautiful and wonderful but isn't based in the realities of cliamte science. It doesn't reflect a path that will get us to where we need to be fast enough. The role of a cap and trade system isn't going to be primarily to invest in new technologies. It's going to create the economic incentives to solve climate. And I strongly disagree that it's not politically viable. It's going to happen. (In part because the EPA has a hammer to drop if congress doesn't pass legislation.) Meanwhile, I think tepid action on climate is going to become increasingly unacceptable politically.On Energy Trust and the Big Hope posted 4 days, 12 hours ago 13 Responses

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  Gene: I agree with you, and the only counter point would be that people WANT solar on their roofs. So this is a way to provide the customer with something they want, more cheaply. And I'd argue that the clean energy movement has suffered from a terrible lack of tangibility--with wind purchases leading the charge on that. So on-site solar is a massive educational tool. But centralized solar--especially if investors can go visit the site nearby--takes the idea even further and it's cheaper, so that is probably where we end up. Jesse: I'll concede that 3% is not going to drive conservation. And clearly driving conservation through increased cost wasn't the point of the program. But I differ from you in that I don't think, given the scale of the climate problem, that we can come close to solving it without an increased price on energy. And when that happens, as it will, to be politically viable it will have to start low--maybe at a level on the order of the Energy Trust cost--and grow over time. In a way, then, Energy Trust meets both our critera now, but later, it's only going to meet my criteria, because the price of the ticket is going to have to go up if we want to solve the problem.On Energy Trust and the Big Hope posted 4 days, 13 hours ago 13 Responses

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  Right on! This climate poverty interface is the crucial connection, and it's why Gates, for example, should be spending at least a token amount of money on climate. Climate change and poverty have this huge connection--malaria, clean water availability, public health, cholera...these are all issue that are unsolvable if climate change isn't addressed. That's why I think one of the best books on climate change today is Peter Singer's "The Life You Can Save" (www.thelifeyoucansave.org) even though it's not ostensibly about climate.On Climate change is a poverty issue posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago 20 Responses

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  Dstangis:

   You should download away! Joel and I and Grist, and others, would welcome insight from someone with experience like yours. This should be a no-bite-your-tongue zone!

  Auden

  On Is the Dow Jones Sustainability Index worth a damn? posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago 9 Responses