Climate Change

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 + Adobe Fireworks CS3 + Wave Arts Power Suite Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer had a press conference earlier this week, as I noted under Keeping Up the Pace in the post just below. I watched some of it today on C-Span while I was having lunch. In […]

No, we’re not Microsoft, but I’ve got some news you should be getting, if not critical software updates. Smart Grid – Smart idea for US energy policy is the title of the recent editorial from the “FT.” They say that the smart grid “would be a national asset comparable to the interstate highways launched by […]

My dictionary defines vector as “an organism (as an insect) that transmits a pathogen.” Researchers from Australia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (my alma mater) have been looking at the species of mosquito that carries dengue fever.  Their studies indicate that climate change, on its present track, will increase mosquito habitat across much of Australia, […]

The 27-nation European Union has come up with its proposals for how to proceed after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.  As you know, the world is going to sit down in Copenhagen in December and finalize an agreement.  (See Further Thoughts on Poznan here from December.) EurActiv reports here that “According to the Commission, […]

A truly thoughtful essay from Harry Eyres, Freedom and the price of oil, appeared in this past weekend’s “FT.”  It’s a meditation, to a great extent, on the ecologist Ivan Illich.  Eyres writes of Illich:  “He had the barmy-seeming idea that we would do better – that is to say would lead more human, fairer […]

Obama takes steps to reverse Bush climate policies is the headline from Reuters. For one thing, the new President has instructed the EPA to revisit California’s application to institute carbon dioxide limits on motor vehicles sold there. (See California Standards here.) See also this from the “Washington Post” today, including the video of Obama’s announcement […]

New International Agency – AFP (via Yahoo) had this to say the other day:  Germany hails creation of global climate-change agency.  More than 100 countries are to be represented in Bonn next week for the founding conference of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Here’s how the new agency describes itself:  “Mandated by governments worldwide, […]

Remember Drill, Baby, Drill? Well, it’s going to be more about actual good public policy based on sound science in the brave new world of the Obama administration. From “The Economist” comes Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the Earth. I’ve touched on some of these folks at Obama’s Team and Obama’s Team, […]

The White House website already has a page on the “New Energy for America” plan.  They’re on it! An article in this week’s edition of “EERE Network News” from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, talks about President Obama’s inaugural address and its reference to renewables:   how the US will “harness the sun […]

The Answer, My Friend – Wind Farm Off Cape Cod Clears Hurdle is the story from the “NY Times” the other day.  As you know, offshore wind projects have been hurtling forward in Europe, but have lagged years behind in the US.  The Cape Wind project generated an extraordinary and largely unforeseen backlash when it […]

The Asia Society held an interesting event the other day on the ins and outs of the melting of the Himalayan glaciers. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the Chairman of the IPCC, was the keynote speaker. Dr. Pachauri highlighted this startling observation: There were 500,000 square kilometers of glacial cover in the Himalayas in 1995. At the […]

I want to present some more eye-catching, positive developments for your delectation.  To paraphrase the Gershwins, “It’s very clear, renewables are here to stay.” Gulf Oil States in the Vanguard? – Why Not?  In “Syriana,” a pretty cool movie if you haven’t seen it, an Arab Prince wants to move his country on from oil […]