Economy | Grist

The keep-it-cold war

Global warming is no friend to Russia, ambassador says 5
Posted 3 months, 4 weeks ago
Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak disagreed sharply with recent news reports suggesting Russian leaders may welcome climate change because it would make Arctic gas and oil deposits and northern regions more accessible.
Is hindsight 20/20?

Learning from past civilizations 2
Posted 4 months ago
To understand our current environmental dilemma, it helps to look at earlier civilizations that also got into environmental trouble. Our early 21st century civilization is not the first to face the prospect of environmentally induced economic decline. The question is how we will respond.
Get off defense

Obama admin should bring defense and climate funding into balance, argues a new report 11
Posted 4 months ago
With climate change among the world's biggest security challenges, the Obama administration should be pumping much more money into addressing the problem, argues a new a report from the Institute for Policy Studies. In fiscal year 2008, the U.S. government spent $88 on funding the military for every $1 spent on projects to stabilize the climate.
From this VantagePoint

Silicon Valley VC sees bright future for green tech—and a need to engage policy makers 6
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
VantagePoint Venture Partners is making big bets on green tech by funding nearly two dozen startups involved in everything from LED lighting to algae biofuels to water to the smart grid. CEO Alan Salzman talks about what his firm sees ahead.
Boy, George

Sen. Voinovich stalls confirmation of EPA deputy, demands new climate-bill analysis 3
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) is holding up the confirmation of a deputy administrator at the U.S. EPA until the agency coughs up numbers on the House climate bill that are to his liking.
Green jobs: debunking the debunkers 5
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
In response to my recent article digging into green jobs, a reader sent me a copy of a March paper by Andrew Morriss et al at University of Illinois that attempts to debunk green jobs myths. While I see major flaws in most green jobs papers I read, many of the myths cited by this paper are irrelevant to what I consider the most important questions.
Buy It

The Informal Economy: Michael Jackson Edition 1
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
The mass memorial for the recently departed mega-star breathed surprising life into the underutilized downtown of Los Angeles.
Next on climate: Improve Waxman-Markey innovation provisions in Senate 0
Posted 5 months ago
Few aspects of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill matter more than the insufficient degree to which it applies future revenue to clean energy innovation. Quite simply, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) makes only a modest start toward promoting the technology breakthroughs that will make clean energy cheap, reduce carbon emissions, and create thousands of cleantech jobs.
If you could CEQ her now

Coal is here to stay, says Obama’s chief environmental adviser 2
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago
"Clearly coal is a part of our energy mix now and it's likely to be so in the future," says Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In an exclusive interview, she also talks about economic stimulus, green jobs, and mountaintop-removal mining. Watch the video and read the highlights.
Bone of Contention

Ask Umbra on meating your needs 9
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago
Should a vegetarian faced with reduced-price (and about-to-be-thrown-out) meat give in to the way of flesh, just to prevent needless slaughter? Umbra chews over the question.
Farm Crisis 2009

Stand up for rural America while you still can 4
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
For the past six months, dairy farmers across the country have suffered a historic drop in milk prices while operating costs remain high. This is impacting mainly conventional and small to mid-size family dairy farmers -- the worst crisis most dairy farmers have faced in their entire careers. Without immediate action from Congress and the Obama administration, this current crisis could be the launching point for the final liquidation of the independent family farmer.
Blue-green streak

Labor teams up with enviros to pass climate bill and promote green jobs 1
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
The economic crisis and the climate crisis have united unions and environmentalists as never before, as they push for a new, positive vision: a vibrant green economy. Can the blue-green partnership help get climate legislation passed?
Food - Time = a Big Problem

Fixing food isn’t only about agriculture. Just ask Europe. 0
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Yes, health care reform is fundamental to food system reform, for both farmers and eaters. But there's even more to the European welfare state than health benefits, vacations and pensions.
Brookings: Fears that cap and trade will hurt farmers are baseless 4
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
A new economic study reveals that concerns a cap on global warming pollution could hurt American agriculture are unfounded. As the Waxman-Markey green economy legislation (H.R. 2454) moves toward passage in the House of Representatives, the farm lobby and rural officials have questioned the bill's costs to farmers.
This blows

Renewables industry protests weak RES proposals in Congress 6
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
The clean-energy industry says the renewable electricity standards being considered by Congress are way too weak. If the proposals aren't strengthened, the U.S. will lose jobs and economic opportunities to competitors abroad, people in the industry warn.
CAFE serves up tasty emission cuts

Critique of auto standards misses how they save consumers money compared to gas taxes 1
Posted 6 months, 1 week ago
Robert Stavins thinks an increased gasoline tax or cap-and-trade would make Obama's tougher auto efficiency standards redundant. This offers an excellent illustration of how even economists who are not market fundamentalists can miss the way well-designed regulation improves economic efficiency.
Exclusive report: Preventing windfalls for polluters but preserving prices

Waxman-Markey gets it right with its allocations to regulated utilities 0
Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago
As the U.S. makes significant progress towards enacting a cap-and-trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions, some are worried that the new Waxman-Markey bill may enable polluting utilities to reap windfall profits. Two of the country’s leading experts on the electric utility industry and energy economics disagree.
You can’t build a new foundation with dirty energy 1
Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Business leaders are heading to the White House to discuss how to build a new foundation for economic recovery. They should look to clean energy.
Baracking in the free world

Obama’s green achievements at 100 days 8
Posted 7 months ago
What have Barack Obama and his administration done to meet green expectations in their first 100 days?
Draft punk

Seattle, utility to help pay for home energy audits 3
Posted 7 months, 1 week ago
Mayor Nickel's Green Building Capital Initiative will help fund discounted home energy audits and create a loan program for efficiency improvements.