Grist | Topics | 1672 Results

RESULTS		Results 326 – 350 of 1672
Page:1 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 67
Headline	Author	Published	Section
The Big Lump gets thumped King Coal's year of rejection by banks, judges, and a lot of other folks	Ted Nace	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Earth Policy Institute just released this revelatory chronology of really sad, horrible, and depressing events in the life of the coal industry since February 2007. What's next -- will Santa be switching to lumps of dirt? Feb. 26, 2007: James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a leading climate scientist, calls for a moratorium on the construction of coal-fired power plants that do not sequester carbon, saying that it makes no sense to build ...
Topics: business, coal, energy, legislation, politics, state politics, US EPA (all these topics)

Van Jones on Colbert Report	David Roberts	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Am I the only one who just doesn't much like the Colbert Report? The interviews, especially. Colbert always comes off like a dickhead -- that's his shtick -- but the guests are in a catch-22 as well. They look bad if they play along and bad if they try to play it straight. It just ends up being awkward and conveying virtually no information. Why bother? Jon Stewart is a notorious pitcher of softballs, but at least he actually tries to engage his guests.
Topics: air pollution, business, economy, funnies, green jobs, solar voltaic power, TV, Van Jones (all these topics)

When does additionality matter? Part 3 Almost always, but the reason is more subtle than you think	Adam Stein	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In two previous posts, I've attempted to establish that additionality is neither some strange concept relevant only to carbon offsets nor an awkward patch used to fix a defect in the design of carbon markets. Rather, the concept of additionality is applicable to any incentive system, whether subsidy, tax, or whatever. The real question is what degree of additionality is actually necessary or desirable in any given system. Put another way, when should we care enough about ...
Topics: business, carbon offsets, carbon trading, climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Hoffert and Pielke: <del Shame on Nature for quoting Hoffert on behalf of Pielke without noting they're colleagues!	Joseph Romm	02 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Suppose the prestigious journal Nature published an analysis of mine that they knew many people would disagree with. How would you feel if Nature then ran accompanying commentaries for and against my analysis, including another Senior Fellow from the Center for American Progress raving about how important and brilliant it was? You'd probably think that was kind of lame of them. Now suppose the Nature article never mentioned that I was a CAP Senior Fellow or that my m ...
Topics: business, carbon trading, climate, climate change skepticism, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, IPCC (all these topics)

Discarded Ken Not Included New Mattel line lets you wear Barbie's discards		02 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 4:34 PM on 02 Apr 2008 We are not making this up: Mattel is planning a new line of accessories made from "excess fabric and trimmings from other Barbie doll fashions and products which would otherwise be discarded." The "playful and on-trend" Barbie BCause collection -- including handbags, hats, pillows, and diaries "each featuring its own unique variations and kitschy patchwork details ...
Topics: business, green living, green products, insanity, news, parenting, recycling, shopping (all these topics)

Don't Make Me Turn This Car Around! U.S. auto sales take a nosedive		02 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 12:48 PM on 02 Apr 2008 Chrysler and General Motors sold 19 percent less automobiles in the U.S. this March than they did last March, according to new sales figures. Ford reported a sales drop of 14 percent in March 2008 compared to March 2007, and even Toyota, which has reported steady sales through other hard times, reported that sales dropped 10 percent. As has been the case for a while, sales of big ol' gas guzzler ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, economy, news (all these topics)

U-boat sightings European biodiesel industry being bankrupted by loophole	biodiversivist	02 Apr 2008	Gristmill
They call them U-boats because they pull into a port just long enough to do a U-turn and head off to Europe. They stop just long enough to blend a touch of fuel into the tank so they can claim the government subsidy. Let's say you have a million gallons on board from, say, a palm oil plantation in Indonesia, or a soybean operation in South America. An hour or two after your arrival, your pockets are bulging with just short of a million U.S. taxpayer dollars. From the ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, economy, energy, fossil fuels, international politics, shenanigans (all these topics)

Fossil Fools Day roundup Activists worldwide target coal plants and banks	Ted Nace	01 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Rainforest Action Network's Matt Leonard provides this roundup of Fossil Fools Day actions targeting coal plants, coal minings, and the banks funding it all. Rising Tide (North America, U.K., and International units) spearheaded these efforts and others. Cliffside: 8 Arrested as North Carolina residents shut down construction at Cliffside coal plant At 6:30 a.m., North Carolina residents locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy's massive C ...
Topics: business, campus activism, coal, energy, fossil fuels, grassroots activism, greenwashing (all these topics)

WSJ: Biodiesel's advocates smarter than corn ethanol's Subsidies contribute to muddying of biodiesel instead of boosting the industry	Joseph Romm	01 Apr 2008	Gristmill
The WSJ reports today: The U.S. taxpayer forks over a $1 subsidy for every gallon of biodiesel that is blended in the U.S. for export later. The idea was to give a nudge to the U.S. biofuel industry. But it is boomeranging, as the Guardian reports today in the latest installment on biodiesel 'splash-and-dash.' ... Increasingly, traders ship biodiesel from Asia or Europe to U.S. ports, where it is blended with a 'splash' of regular diesel, the paper reports. That ...
Topics: biofuels, business, energy, shenanigans (all these topics)

Let me boil it down for you ... When additionality always matters	Gar Lipow	01 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Sean Casten and Adam Stein have been discussing when it is important that a carbon savings be additional -- that is, when it is important that we not pay for a saving that would have happened anyway. You guys are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. Iron-clad additionality is critical when you're selling a permission for someone else to pollute. If you are reducing emissions, generating a financial instrument from that fact, and then selling it to some ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Al Gore's got some big bucks Thoughts on the newly announced 'we' campaign	Jon Rynn	01 Apr 2008	Gristmill
So Al Gore announced a $300 million 3-year effort 'aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.' My question is, wouldn't it be better to spend that money on building grassroots organizations pushing for climate change legislation instead of spending it mostly, I presume, on advertising? If $100 million was spent each year on grassroots organizations in 30 major cities, that would work out to $3 million per each major metr ...
Topics: Al Gore, business, celebrity, environmental movement, politics, TV (all these topics)

Got food? Farmworker Awareness Week is a chance to recognize the people whose labor means we can eat	Fawn Pattison	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is Farmworker Awareness Week, a time to support the millions of farmworkers whose labor puts food on every American table, and who work and live in some of the worst environmental conditions in our nation. It's estimated that 2 to 3 million farmworkers plant, tend, and harvest American crops every year. Many farmworkers in the U.S. are migrants who move from place to place following the harvest. Where I live, in North Carolina, migrant farmworkers are the ma ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, environmental justice, food, grassroots activism, health, toxics (all these topics)

When does additionality matter? Part 2 Measuring additionality has clear benefits -- and also some obvious costs	Adam Stein	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The second in a series of posts on additionality. In his post criticizing the design of carbon markets, Sean correctly notes that additionality is a pain to measure -- an ever more expensive pain, as the industry matures and quality controls become more stringent. To take an example I know well, at TerraPass, we spend tens of thousands of dollars per project helping dairy farmers validate their methane digesters under the Voluntary Carbon Standard. It's a complex proc ...
Topics: business, carbon offsets, carbon trading, climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Carbon policy details: Part 4 Spots vs. strips	Sean Casten	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is the fourth post in five-part series on the details required to get carbon policy right. See also parts one, two, and three. We now get into an issue that will seem a bit arcane, because no one's talking about it, at least not explicitly. But it's a real choice, and in many conversations about carbon policy we are implicitly getting it wrong. Should we price carbon in spots, or strips? Or, to take it out of financial jargon, should we: set up markets ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Urgency and solvability: The "we" campaign Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection unveils ambitious $300 million ad campaign	David Roberts	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
If you read Juliet Eilperin's great rundown in the Washington Post, you know that today marks the launch of a massive PR effort from Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore has concluded that U.S. politicians will continue to be timid on climate change until the public demands otherwise. "The simple algorithm is this: It's important to change the light bulbs, but it's much more important to change the laws," he said. "The options available to ...
Topics: Al Gore, business, celebrity, climate, environmental movement, messaging, politics, TV (all these topics)

Peak Oil? Bring it on! Solving the climate problem will solve the peak oil problem, too	Joseph Romm	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
I have a new article in Salon on perhaps the most misunderstood subject in energy: peak oil. Here is the short version: We are at or near the peak of cheap conventional oil production. There is no realistic prospect that the conventional oil supply can keep up with current projected demand for much longer, if the industrialized countries don't take strong action to sharply reduce consumption, and if China and India don't take strong action to sharply reduce cons ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, energy, fuel efficiency, hybrids, oil, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

More signs of the Apocalypse? Soy, corn, and wheat prices puzzling economists	Tia Ghose	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Just in case you weren't worried about rising food prices, The New York Times has an article out that makes the food markets seem even more volatile. Apparently, identical bushels of corn, wheat, and soybeans are selling for two different prices on the derivatives and cash markets.Now, I'm not an economist, but the first line of the article makes the whole thing sound freakish. From the article: Economists note there should not be two prices for one thing at the same pla ...
Topics: agriculture, business, economy, food (all these topics)

When does additionality matter? Part 1 The deceptively simple concept at the heart of carbon markets	Adam Stein	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Sean recently wrote a provocative post on why 'additionality' -- one of the bedrock principles of carbon markets as presently designed -- is an expensive waste of time. This is a rich topic, and my perspective as a carbon offset retailer differs from his as an energy producer. It's worth spending a few posts exploring why.When we ask whether a greenhouse-gas reduction is 'additional,' we're asking if it would have happened in the absence of whatever incentive we've ...
Topics: business, carbon offsets, climate, energy (all these topics)

Survey says ... environment and economy not mutually exclusive! Americans favor conservation and see economically sound opportunities in protection	Anna Fahey	29 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Standard survey questions often uphold (or manufacture) false dichotomies. Case in point: the perpetual practice of pitting the environment against the economy. Nonetheless, these questions can reveal interesting trends over time. And every now and then, the numbers show that the public sees right through 'either/or' questions that just don't add up -- like recent research that shows Americans link economic opportunity to environmental protection. First, recent trends ...
Topics: business, coal, economy, energy, green jobs, natural gas, oil (all these topics)

The Clorox debacle continues Sierra Club removes leadership of its Florida chapter	Guest author	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay from Peter Montague1, executive director of the Environmental Research Foundation. ----- The Sierra Club's national board voted on March 25 to remove the leaders of the Club's 35,000-member Florida chapter, and to suspend the chapter for four years. It was the first time in the Club's 116-year history that such action has been taken against a state chapter. The leadership of the Florida chapter had been highly critical of the national ...
Topics: business, Florida, green cleaning, greenwashing, Sierra Club (all these topics)

Toward a green economy Two NYT pieces exploring green jobs	Joseph Romm	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Kari Manlove, fellows assistant at the Center for American Progress. ----- If you're interested in the media's version of Green Jobs 101, a good place to start is Wednesday's New York Times article, 'Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar.' But it's not a perfect start, because the article fails to demonstrate an understanding of the scale of this movement, and the author could have taken heed to one of his co-worker's piec ...
Topics: business, Competitive Enterprise Institute, economy, environmental movement, green jobs (all these topics)

Carbon policy details: Part 3 Carbon taxes vs. carbon trading	Sean Casten	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is the third post in a series about details we are still getting wrong in the climate policy discussion. See also part one and part two. There is no shortage of economic analysis and policy discourse that shows that carbon tax and cap-and-trade methodologies can deliver economically equivalent outcomes. The general consensus -- at least today -- seems to be that since they're equivalent, it really comes down to politics, and it's politically difficult to do anyt ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Casten gospel reaches NYT	David Roberts	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Congrats to our own Sean Casten for getting the following letter to the editor in The New York Times: Re "States' Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock" ("The Energy Challenge" series, March 20): Proponents of coal-fired power argue falsely that coal is cheap. Coal is a cheap fuel. But who cares? Coal can't run an iPod. And electricity from coal -- which also includes fuel, maintenance and capital recovery costs -- ...
Topics: business, coal, energy, renewable energy (all these topics)

Windfalls Why consumer protection means selling carbon permits	Eric de Place	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
One of the thorniest problems in cap-and-trade programs is deciding how to distribute the carbon permits. Should the public sell pollution privileges or give them away for free? Some folks worry that if we make polluters pay for carbon permits, they'll just raise prices for consumers. That's a perfectly legitimate concern. Unfortunately it turns out to be true, whether we sell the permits or give them away for free. Prices rise by the same amount in either scenario ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, economy (all these topics)

Don't look now, but clean tech is contributing to climate progress New report on massive growth of renewables last year	Joseph Romm	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Climate Progress is the title of my blog posts' main home, as much as the 'progress' part strains credulity at times. I only see two major quantitative areas of sustained progress: clean energy deployment (especially in Europe) and private sector clean-tech funding. Those folk at Clean Edge, who wrote the best 2007 book on clean tech, The Clean Tech Revolution, have quantified these gains -- and made predictions about the future -- in a new report you can read here. S ...
Topics: biofuels, business, energy, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics)

Page:1 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 67		Results 326 – 350 of 1672

Stories About: business