Economy | Grist

Next on climate: Improve Waxman-Markey innovation provisions in Senate 0
Posted 5 days, 23 hours 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 1 week, 3 days 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 1 week, 4 days 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 3
Posted 2 weeks, 4 days 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 2 weeks, 6 days 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 3 weeks, 1 day 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 3 weeks, 4 days 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 4 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 1 month, 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 1 month, 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 1 month, 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 2 months, 1 week 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 2 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.
Old dog, Newt tricks

Gore and Gingrich bump heads at House climate hearing 7
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Debate on the House climate bill gets heated as Al Gore and Newt Gingrich jump into the fray.
False profits

Tennessee rep accuses Gore of trying to profit from climate bill 8
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
In one of the spicier moments from Friday's climate hearings in the House, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) suggested that Al Gore would personally profit from a cap-and-trade bill. Watch the video.
Brainstorm Green

Policy chatter is on everyone’s lips at Fortune’s green-business conference 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Fortune Magazine's annual Brainstorm Green confab brings together Fortune 500 types (naturally), green tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and enviros. As such it's a barometer for the state of green in the Green State.
Same polluters, new deceit

Industry spin on climate is still working on media 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
New York Times reporter Andy Revkin has a blockbuster story showing that the Global Climate Coalition, the main industry group that spent much of the 1990s seeking to sow doubt in journalists' and politicians' minds about the reality of climate change, knew all along that it was real and dangerous.
What's in it for me?

Interest groups pile on with suggested changes to House climate bill 7
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
The third day of climate hearings in the House made it clear that even representatives and interest groups that nominally support the principles of the Markey-Waxman bill have a laundry list of changes they'd like to see made to the bill before they'll back it.
Moving on up

Progressive coalition spends $250,000 on ads for a green energy bill 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
A coalition of labor, environmental, and progressive groups is putting up a quarter of a million dollars for a TV ad campaign promoting national clean-energy and climate legislation.
I know what I'll do next summer

Obama’s Clean Energy Service Corps will train people for green jobs—eventually 4
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
President Barack Obama has created a new Clean Energy Service Corps. That could be good news for young Americans wanting to get a foot in the door of the clean energy industry.