Grist | Topics | 53 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 53
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Wait, they're not the same?!	David Roberts	11 Jun 2008	Gristmill
In the Boston Globe, Carol Browner and Bob Sussman construct a short and powerful critique of McCain's climate/energy positions, tacking against the kind of foolishness that has addled the brains of the folks over at the L.A. Times.
Topics: Barack Obama, climate, energy, John McCain, messaging, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Belly up! There is such a thing as a free lunch	David Roberts	09 Jun 2008	Gristmill
You frequently hear that 'there's no such thing as a free lunch,' particularly when it comes to climate and energy policy. It's a mark of 'seriousness' to solemnly proclaim that it's all going to cost a lot of money and be very, very difficult. But the free-lunch canard is just another way of restating the central and most deleterious myth of conventional economics: full employment, the notion that our capital and energy resources are optimally deployed, and thus ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, messaging (all these topics)

A new part of the No Duh curriculum Peer-reviewed study finds that right-wing think tanks have stymied environmental progress	David Roberts	09 Jun 2008	Gristmill
To file under 'academic demonstration of what we already knew,' here's an abstract from a new paper in the journal Environmental Politics: Environmental scepticism denies the seriousness of environmental problems, and self-professed 'sceptics' claim to be unbiased analysts combating 'junk science.' This study quantitatively analyses 141 English-language environmentally sceptical books published between 1972 and 2005. We find that over 92 per cent of these books, mos ...
Topics: books, climate, climate change skepticism, education, messaging (all these topics)

Flock Together New climate campaign aimed at U.S. consumers		05 Jun 2008	News
Posted at 3:30 PM on 05 Jun 2008 A European campaign to raise consumer awareness of climate change has made its U.S. debut. The Together campaign -- not to be confused with the similarly named-and-agendaed "we" campaign -- was initiated by the nonprofit Climate Group and kicked off in the U.S. by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Var ...
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, climate, consumerism, environmental movement, green living, messaging, news (all these topics)

Who is being misleading? A Post columnist's defenders can't salvage his poor cap-and-trade logic	Ryan Avent	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Tyler Cowen weighs in on the cap-and-trade debate. He focuses on my criticism of Samuelson's seeming failure to understand the relationship between cap-and-trade and a carbon tax: But Samuelson is correct here and Avent is misleading. When there is uncertainty about the location of the social optimum, and uncertainty about elasticities, a carbon tax and cap-and-trade are by no means equivalent. If you see very high costs from setting the binding cap too l ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, messaging (all these topics)

The truth will set you free Democrats are undermining the strongest message behind climate policy	David Roberts	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
In this post, I argued that the best, simplest, and most impactful message for advocates of climate legislation is this: Good climate policy will rescue American families from a sinking ship. I meant to add that the Dems not only seem to miss the power of this message, but are by all appearances working to undermine it. What do I mean? Well, core to the message is a simple truth: Fossil energy costs are going up. They're going to keep going up. The reasons are comp ...
Topics: climate, energy, fossil fuels, gas prices, messaging, politics (all these topics)

The problem with 'We Can Solve It' An ad campaign on climate needs spokespeople who believe what they're saying	Ken Ward	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Idly watching TV the other day, my attention was caught by the arresting image of Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson sitting on a sofa. The artfully shot, 15-second spot is one of the first blitz of television ads from We Can Solve It, Al Gore's $300 million project to build up a public base of support for climate action. The two resemble each other, looking as sleek and plump as sea otters after a good feed. Sharpton and Robertson fence good naturedly, following t ...
Topics: climate, environmental movement, messaging, religion and spirituality (all these topics)

Jumping ship from the USS Fossil Climate action advocates need a simple, compelling message on costs	David Roberts	03 Jun 2008	Gristmill
As this lamentable New York Times piece demonstrates, advocates for action on climate change have lost the framing battle. If they don't want to lose the war for America's future, they need to step back, coalesce around a simple message, and get it out to voters in a disciplined way. The corporatist wing of the Republican party has a simple, compelling populist message: capping emissions will hurt American families. It will raise the price of energy -- gasoline, he ...
Topics: climate, energy, fossil fuels, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, messaging (all these topics)

Nice way of life. Shame if something happened to it.	David Roberts	31 May 2008	Gristmill
According to ACCCE, if we don't use coal, we'll have to wave goodbye to the American way of life:
Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy, lying liars, messaging (all these topics)

Different worlds Well-informed Republicans are not concerned about climate change	David Roberts	27 May 2008	Gristmill
A new analysis of survey data finds: The more Democrats think they know about global warming, the more concerned they are. But Republicans who consider themselves well informed on the topic seem no more worried than those who profess ignorance, a study suggests. What's going on? Here's my one-sentence diagnosis: Democrats are more likely to be moral relativists and epistemological realists; Republicans are more likely to be the opposite. The base of the right is u ...
Topics: climate, climate change skepticism, messaging, politics (all these topics)

'There's a better way' New McCain climate ad aimed at independent voters	Kate Sheppard	12 May 2008	Gristmill
John McCain released a new television advertisement today to accompany his big climate policy speech in Portland, Ore., this afternoon. Here's the ad: The ad illustrates McCain's attempts to appeal to independents; climate change is a key area where he believes he can make inroads with voters outside the Republican party. Note these lines in particular: 'One extreme thinks high taxes and crippling regulation is the solution. Another denies the problem even exis ...
Topics: climate, elections, John McCain, messaging, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Drudge Report, Fox News falsely smear Gore Right wing doctors audio clips to distort Al Gore's comments about cyclone Nargis	Brad Johnson	10 May 2008	Gristmill
Originally posted at the Think Progress Wonk Room. One week ago, tropical cyclone Nargis struck Burma, tracing an unprecedented path of devastation across this poor nation of 55 million, called Myanmar by its military dictatorship. On May 6, Jeff Poor wrote for the Business & Media Institute a story entitled, 'Al Gore Calls Myanmar Cyclone a 'Consequence' of Global Warming,' which was subsequently linked on the Drudge Report. Poor claims: Using tragedy to advanc ...
Topics: Al Gore, climate, messaging, Myanmar, severe weather (all these topics)

Carbon policy dilemma, 1 You can't achieve the three goals of climate policy at once	David Roberts	28 Apr 2008	Gristmill
I've been thinking about carbon policy lately (shocker, I know), prompted by recent interactions with Monica Prasad, Peter Barnes, and our own Sean Casten. The more I think about it, the more one of the central tensions becomes clear to me. Here are three goals for good climate legislation: Simplicity: The bill should not be hundreds of pages long, packed with addenda, loopholes, provisos, and over-specifications. Complexity boxes out ordinary citizens and insure ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, legislation, messaging, politics (all these topics)

The thing you really never hear	David Roberts	27 Apr 2008	Gristmill
This column from Newsweek editor Evan Thomas is largely a witless recitation of conventional wisdom, but it does raise one point I want to make. It seems to me that every mainstream media figure in the world is out there saying a) tackling global warming is going to be horrendously expensive, involving great sacrifice and hardship on the part of ordinary families, and b) no one else has the courage to say A. But obviously everybody has the courage to say it. It's c ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate change mitigation, messaging, politics (all these topics)

The Pennsyltucky perspective No difference between McCain and Dems on climate	Glenn Hurowitz	22 Apr 2008	Gristmill
I got home yesterday from canvassing for Barack Obama in the outskirts of Harrisburg, Penn. and found last week's edition of The Patriot-News (whose politics reporter, Brett Lieberman, describes the state as 'Pennsyltucky' for its unique mix of urban, industrial, and backwoods), including a 'Find Your Match' voter guide with a chart that's supposed to help people figure out which candidate is closer to them on key policies. Here's what the chart said about Obama, Clin ...
Topics: climate, elections, greenwashing, messaging, Pennsylvania, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Let's dump 'Earth' Day Environment Day? Triage Day? The holiday needs more than a new name	Joseph Romm	22 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Affection for our planet is misdirected and unrequited. We need to focus on saving ourselves. I have a new piece in Salon: 'Let's dump 'Earth' Day.' It is supposed to be mostly humorous. Or mostly serious. Anyway, the subject of renaming Earth Day has been on my mind for a while. An excerpt:I don't worry about the earth. I'm pretty certain the earth will survive the worst we can do to it. I'm very certain the earth doesn't worry about us. I'm not alone. People got ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, extinction, habitat loss, holiday, messaging (all these topics)

Climate 'central' to McCain's campaign?	David Roberts	17 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In the course of an NYT story about McCain's tax policies (short summary: he wants to punch a $200b hole in the budget via regressive tax cuts), political reporter Michael Cooper says: One of Mr. McCain's tax proposals would take effect even before the Republican Convention: he called on Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent a gallon federal gas tax from Memorial Day until Labor Day. Mr. McCain said that doing so would provide 'an immediate economic stimulus,' but some ...
Topics: climate, John McCain, legislation, messaging, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Value Advertised Gore-y climate ads are coming soon to a TV near you		01 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 1:11 PM on 01 Apr 2008 While it is not true that Al Gore is running for president (honestly, how do these rumors get started?), it is true that his Alliance for Climate Protection has officially launched a new "we" campaign. The ad campaign aims to spend $300 million over three years to create a sense of both urgency and solvability around the climate crisis. The first ad hits TVs on Wednesday, likening the ...
Topics: advertising, Al Gore, climate, climate change mitigation, messaging, news, politics, TV (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)

Son of global-warming denial Similarities between the skin cancer and climate change 'scams'	Andrew Dessler	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
I was recently reading The New York Times and saw a fantastic ad: Recent research indicates that the benefits of moderate exposure to sunlight outweigh the hypothetical risks. Surprisingly, there is no compelling scientific evidence that tanning causes melanoma. Scientists have proven, however, that exposure to all forms of ultraviolet light -- both indoors and out -- stimulates the natural production of vitamin D. And research has proven that vitamin D protects ag ...
Topics: advertising, climate, climate change skepticism, greenhouse-gas emissions, health, messaging (all these topics)

Stranger Than Fiction A sci-fi writer and an environmental journalist explore their overlapping worlds	Michelle Nijhuis	21 Feb 2008	Grist Feature
Pump Six and Other Stories, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Science fiction writer Paolo Bacigalupi, author of the new collection Pump Six and Other Stories, envisions a future filled with environmental terrors. His characters move through worlds transformed by climate change, genetic engineering, drought, and toxic waste -- places that seem exotic at first, but on second g ...
Topics: books, climate, green living, messaging (all these topics)

Why I titled my book Hell and High Water 'Climate change' and 'global warming' are not scary-enough terms	Joseph Romm	20 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Andy Revkin of the NYT has a good blog post on one of the main problems with climate messaging by scientists, environmentalists, and the like. In short, it sucks! One problem is the name 'global warming' or 'climate change.' It sounds like a vacation, not a crisis. Indeed, one of the main reasons I titled my book Hell and High Water is that I thought it was a better term -- more accurate of what is to come if we don't act, more descriptive, more visceral -- and I ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, messaging (all these topics)

Coal agit-prop heats up Coal front group pouring millions into targeted disinformation campaign	David Roberts	19 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Speaking of reasons climate legislation is going to be impossible this year: It's good to see the Washington Post pick up on the coal industry's massive lobbying effort. The focus is Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), which we've discussed before. WaPo's Steven Mufson uncovered a few details. Right now, ABEC is spending $1.3 million for ads in Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina (not coincidentally, early primary states). It's also deploying street teams on th ...
Topics: climate, coal, energy, lobbying, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Modestly right, not interestingly wrong The right way to interpret Shellenberger & Nordhaus	David Roberts	13 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Matt Yglesias has a review of Shellenberger & Nordhaus' book in the NYT Sunday Book Review. It contains a good insight and a fairly crucial mistake -- albeit a mistake common to those enter S&N's hall of mirrors for the first time. The insight is twofold. First, that the core and most valuable part of S&N's book is about messaging: "We know from extensive psychological research," they write, "that presenting frightening disaster scenari ...
Topics: books, climate, energy, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Bush plays Baker, part IV Tom Carper totally knows the president	David Roberts	04 Jan 2008	Gristmill
(An on we go, in a series on the WaPo piece so bad it required numerous separate gripes.) Tom Carper would like you to know that he's a) committed on global warming, and b) tight with the president: People find all sorts of ways to lobby President Bush. Sometimes it comes in the form of a handwritten note slipped into his palm during a bill-signing ceremony. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) tried that last week when Bush signed energy legislation that will curb g ...
Topics: politics, climate, George Bush, messaging (all these topics)

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