Ana Unruh Cohen’s Posts

• Happy Darwin Day!

  Raise a toast, you monkey 5

  Posted 2 years, 8 months ago

  Today is the 198th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 148th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. So take some time out today to celebrate Darwin Day and the body of scientific work from him and others that makes up what we know about evolution.

  If your knowledge of Darwin and his work is skimpy, consider picking up David Quammen's The Reluctant Mr. Darwin for a highly enjoyable and insightful introduction. Or if you are in the Boston area, consider visiting the excellent Darwin exhibit that will open February 18th… Read More

• Amen, Speaker!

  Tell it like it is, Nancy 4

  Posted 2 years, 9 months ago

  In her continuing effort to focus attention on global warming, Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the unusual step of appearing as a witness at the House Committee on Science and Technology's hearing on The State of Climate Change. You can read her testimony here.

• SOTU 2007: The coal hard facts

  Coal is hardly renewable 6

  Posted 2 years, 9 months ago

  Q: When is an alternative fuel not a renewable fuel?

  A: When it is coal-to-liquids.

  Lost in the call for 35 billion gallons of non-gasoline fuel was the fact that the president has expanded the definition of what fuels qualify for his mandate. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established a renewable fuels standard. Tonight the president called for a vastly expanded alternative fuels standard -- one that would include "sources such as corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, methanol, butanol, hydrogen, and alternative fuels," a.k.a. coal-to-liquids.

  Trading gasoline for liquid fuels from coal does not bode well for the… Read More

• Oh brother, Obama

  Barack jumps on board with coal-to-liquid 0

  Posted 2 years, 10 months ago

  Although not getting much mainstream press between his new ethics bill and being a beach babe, Sen. Obama is co-chairing a new Senate caucus to promote coal to liquids and, one would assume, his recently reintroduced legislation, according to E&E Daily (sub. req.).

  When is West Virginia's presidential primary?

• Keep It Green

  To fulfill its environmental promises, biofuel policy needs a kick in the pants 18

  Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

  As war simmers in the Middle East and oil prices rise along with global temperatures, Midwestern farmers and politicians aren't the only ones banging the drums for biofuels. Now big-time investors, security hawks, environmentalists, and even George W. Bush have joined their ranks. But is environmentally responsible bioenergy a real possibility, or are we bio-fooling ourselves?

  

  How green is your biofuel?

  Photo: gov.mb.ca

  The question is key, because current U.S. public policy is pushing biofuel production without giving much evident thought to sustainability. If present trends continue, the public could find… Read More

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Ana Unruh Cohen’s Recent Comments

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  Adaptation is not a four letter word

  Glad to see that Dave doesn't always consider adaptation a four letter word. The type of preparedness suggested in this report is exactly what I was arguing for awhile back albeit with more of a domestic slant. Sadly we are past the point of being able to just mitigate. We've got to do both to "avoid the unmanageable and manage the unavoidable."  

  As for the impact of the report, their briefing on Capitol Hill did seem to attract the who's who of climate policy staff...On UN reports are hott! posted 2 years, 8 months ago 2 Responses

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  I second caniscandida; Fareed is ok

  Zakaria does not deserve to be lumped in with Will and Samuelson. I urge everyone to read his column and judge for yourself.

  I agree with Dave that there is plenty we can do to prevent catastrophic climate change, and the two reports he mentions are examples of the potential out there. We need to adopt policies at all levels of government that get us on this track asap.

  But we are already experiencing climate change impacts and will do so regardless of changes to our energy policy so we can't ignore preparations for those impacts. Besides much of what we should do to increase are preparedness has other environmental benefits, like restoring wetlands in coastal areas, limiting further development in the coast, better preparing for the inevitable droughts especially in the west and midwest, etc.

  As with most things there is potential to use adaptation as an excuse for inaction or to build things that actually make things worse, like some levees I can think of on the Gulf Coast. But if you couple preparedness with a strong program to reduce emissions, I think you can avoid that. Sens. Kerry and Snowe have included language in their recently introduced global warming bill (S. 485) that would help communities assess their climate change vulnerabilities and better prepare for them. The major part of the bill is a cap and trade program, but by including some impact assessment in their bill they have struck a good balance.

  Our major effort certainly needs to be intransforming our energy system, but we can't ignore preparation for impacts, especially when they have other environmental benefits as well. As Zakaria says in his final sentences: "Mitigation and adaptation complement each other. In both cases, the crucial need is to stop talking and start acting." On It's seductive -- and wrong posted 2 years, 8 months ago 54 Responses

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  Comedy Central got it wrong...

  Ken, you are right to be upset that AEI and CEI keeps getting confused. Dave probably should have checked, but Jon Stewart is usually such a reliable source. He said in his intro of Chris that he was from AEI and Chris did not correct him. Maybe he didn't hear it...On He does not fare well posted 2 years, 8 months ago 13 Responses

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  Reaching the target

  One thing I like about Bill's argument for cap and trade was the idea of being able to set the reductions you want to achieve in the future. How do we figure out where to set the tax to achieve the same goals? What tax level would you propose to be able to reach the same benchmarks that say the US-CAP coalition support? On Why carbon taxes trump cap-and-trade posted 2 years, 8 months ago 18 Responses

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  He's right and he's wrong

  Hayward is right on the possibility of an inadequate bill. He's wrong on the inside word from Congress. But I suppose that he and I probably have different sources. Mine tell me that Democratic leadership very much wants climate legislation to move. That's why it is important to do things to step it up. And if Bush sees the Republican nominee getting beat up over the issue, he might even sign the bill, especially if the nominee happens to be the lead co-sponsor on the bill in question. On He's fer it posted 2 years, 8 months ago 1 Response