News | Grist

Badgering the green team at SEJ

Looking beyond Copenhagen, with no Plan B 2
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago President Obama's lieutenants put on their game faces as they fielded journalists' questions Friday, but there was a palpable sense that they know the game is already over going into the global talks on climate change in December.
interpretating the news

Obama’s Nobel: What it means for greens 5
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago Dip a toe into the Nobel Peace Prize news and next thing you’re drowning in commentary. Here’s an attempt to distill what it means for greens, by which I mean the types of people who rely on air, water, soil, and other naturey elements.
Ticket to Copenhagen?

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize 5
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago Barack Obama becomes the third sitting U.S. president to win the coveted prize. Thanks to his initiative, said the Nobel Committee, “the USA is now playing a more constructive role” in global efforts to confront climate change.
OUTFLANKED

‘No compromise’ faction attacks climate bill 104
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago Acolytes of climatologist James Hansen are not happy with the climate legislation coming out of Washington. And boy do they have some strange ways of showing it.
Everybody calm down

What the EPA announcement did (and did not) say 17
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago The EPA made an announcement today that lots of folks seem to be misinterpreting as "proposed regulations on power plants." That's not what they are.
G20, your resolution sounds terrific

G20 cans fossil-fuel subsidies, but fails to make other climate-conserving moves 7
Posted 2 months ago At the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, world leaders announced an agreement to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies. It was the only climate-specific policy directive to come out of the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, and it fell far short in the view of climate activists.
forced analogy alert

Why the EPA ‘dissenter’ story needs to die 1
Posted 2 months ago There's a tempting storyline in suggesting the Obama administration manipulates science to suit its own ideology, just as the prior administration did. But in the EPA suppression story, there's no evidence to suggest this is happening.
Finally

Boxer, Kerry will introduce Senate climate bill next week 3
Posted 2 months ago Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will introduce a climate bill in the Senate next Wednesday, finally fulfilling their promise to do so by late September.
firing chamber

Corporations call off the old green battle, but Chamber of Commerce soldiers on [UPDATED] 4
Posted 2 months ago Still more trouble for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the 97-year-old business advocacy group that has been courting controversy by questioning climate change and fighting a clean energy bill. Here are the companies that have quit the Chamber.
Extra largesse

Fossil fuel subsidies dwarf clean energy subsidies; Obama wants to eliminate them 13
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago One often hears opponents of clean energy say that renewable sources are too expensive; they can't get by without subsidies; they can't compete in a "free market." One of the many reasons this is a daffy argument is that there is no such thing as a free market, certainly not in energy. Fossil fuels have benefited from a century of subsidies and supporting infrastructure -- and are still subsidized lavishly relative to their scrappy little competitors. This is a point enviros often make, but a new report from the Environmental Law Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars puts some teeth in it.
That smarts

MacArthur genius award winners include climate and ocean researchers 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago Some of the MacArthur Foundation “genius award” winners are doing work related to climate change. And they now they each have $500 grand, no strings attached.
Hooray for buzz kills

Obama gives his first real climate speech—really 4
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago It was no barnburner of a speech, but President Obama’s address at the U.N. Climate Summit Tuesday morning amounted to the boldest climate change speech of his presidency. That's because it was essentially the only climate change speech of his presidency.
Say it like Hu mean it

China pledges to curb emission growth by ‘notable margin’ 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday pledged to curb the growth of China's carbon dioxide emissions by a "notable margin" by 2020 from their 2005 levels. But Hu also did not put a figure on the cuts, telling the U.N. General Assembly that the curbs would be measured by unit of Gross Domestic Product, in line with China's concerns about preserving its rapid economic growth.
'Unease Is No Excuse for Inaction'

Obama’s climate speech to the U.N. 6
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago As international pressure mounts for true progress on climate change, President Obama addressed the United Nations today. Find out what he said.
Power from the people

People pressure is key to action on climate change, say two climate movement leaders 4
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago Activist Kumi Naidoo and economist Lord Nicholas Stern are cautiously optimistic about international action  on climate change. And they both agree that citizen pressure is the key.
Wake up, yo!

Flash mobs barrage Obama and other world leaders with calls for climate action 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Around 30 people gathered at Union Square in Manhattan at 12:18 pm on Monday to make simultaneous cell-phone calls to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking them to support a strong international treaty to slash greenhouse-gas emissions and stop global warming. The event, organized via text messaging, was part of a global Climate Wake-up Call to world leaders, with similar gatherings happening at 12:18 PM local time in more than 2200 locales in 128 nations.
Up in Rupert's business

Yes Men pranksters make fake New York Post about real climate emergency 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
More culture jamming fun from The Yes Men: A fake (but true!) edition of the New York Post helps kick off Climate Week NYC.
What a difference a week makes?

Climate Week kicks off in New York with bigwigs and big hopes 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
This week, leaders from around the world are coming to a U.N. Climate Summit in New York, where President Obama will give a speech on climate change and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes to make real progress toward a new international climate treaty. Activists will be out in force at a slew of climate-related events in NYC, and then they'll take the show to Pittsburgh, where world leaders will be assembling for a G20 summit.
Merkel and Sarkozy want carbon tax on imports 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
The leaders of Germany and France called Friday for the United Nations to support a carbon tax on imports from countries who fail to back international efforts to fight global warming.
Market rules in D.C.

White House hosts farmers market 7
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
"I've never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables!" declared First Lady Michelle Obama at Thursday's opening of the new White House Farmer's Market.