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Mr. Merkley goes to Washington: Filibuster-buster foiled, but unbowed
If you had to invent a word that meant “obnoxious and purposeful dysfunction of legislative process,” you could hardly think of something better or more onomatopoeic than “filibuster.” Of all the flaws...
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State of the Union: pushing forward and backward on climate
“They deserve a vote. They deserve a vote.” President Obama repeated the phrase over and over, in a powerful appeal to Congress to curb gun violence at the end of last night’s State of the Union...
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The Keystone Principle
The big President’s Day rally on the National Mall is more than a Keystone pipeline protest. It’s a statement of principle for climate action. After a year of unprecedented destruction due to weather...
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Live on stage in the Great Northwest: King Coal’s tragic puppet show, Part 1
You could it see it coming a mile away. King Coal rumbled into town with carloads of money, but they needed local cover. Opportunistic PR and legal firms welcomed the business. Sure, it carried some...
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King Coal’s tragic puppet show, Part 2: Coal export is wrong
When last we left our intrepid heroes, the great Northwest had woken up to find itself cast in the wrong movie, sort of like Owen Wilson playing Richard Nixon (see Part 1). If we’re disoriented, it’s...
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King Coal’s tragic puppet show, Part 3: Coal export just isn’t us
Who are we, anyway? We had better decide. Because accepting the coal industry’s plan to turn the Northwest into a mainline for delivering lethal doses of coal into the global energy system would...
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King Coal’s tragic puppet show, Part 4: Field guide to distractions
Coal export is wrong (see Part 2) and it’s not us (see Parts 1 and 3). To deflect attention from these show-stoppers, coal export proponents change the subject. They propagate arguments to have...
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Wyoming Governor to White House: Do coal export in the dark
Coal export is kind of like the swimming pool game “Marco Polo”: if you open your eyes, it ruins the whole game. Wyoming Governor Matt Mead emerged as a stalwart defender of the eyes-closed rule last...
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Dear John: Don’t make it worse
Talk swirls about some kind of “deal” for the Keystone XL Pipeline. I don’t see it. Political “realists” say Congress is incapable of passing a serious climate policy, period. That assessment becomes...
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Obama: Game on!
A focus group participant once said to us: “I don’t think climate change is that big of a deal, because nobody’s doing anything about it.” This is a remarkable bit of insight. Surely, she deduced, if...
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Senate EPW: “Climate change is Happening Now”. House E&C: “More fossil fuel...
I’m testifying at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing today entitled: “Climate change; It’s happening now.” I’ll be calling for responsible limits on climate pollution, a fair...
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King Coal’s tragic puppet show, part 5: “Forget the economics, the study was...
It wasn’t finished. That’s why Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn had not, until yesterday, released the results of an economic study on coal train impacts in Seattle. for Pete’s sake But King Coal jerked the...
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Impotence: the new face of climate denial
Whatever happened to morning in America? The party of Ronald Reagan just drips with malaise every time they talk about climate. With the horrific reality of climate consequences now overwhelming the...
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War on truth: Which side is Harvard on?
College students across the country are calling on their schools’ endowments to divest from fossil fuels. The campaign is taking off. But Harvard University President Drew Faust has rejected the idea,...
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“We can stop this madness”: Philippines climate negotiator begins hunger strike
You can donate to relief efforts for the victims of Haiyan here. And you can do something for the prospective victims of still-preventable climate disasters here. And here.
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Decarbonizing our future
Give me an “R” for Reason! Sid Morrison is one of the most gifted and gracious leaders I have ever met, a Republican who puts a high value on science, collaboration, and solutions. While I don’t share...
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Go figure: Giant dirty oil pipeline is a climate problem
Keystone XL could dramatically increase climate pollution. So suggests an important new study from the Stockholm Environment Institute, available here. The authors have identified and fixed a critical...
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60 Minutes’ clean tech bash-fest: hardly a moment of journalism, not a second...
“I’m not afraid to fail because the consequences of avoiding failure are doing nothing” - Clean tech investor Vinod Khosla, on 60 Minutes Most of the blowback to the 60 Minutes mugging of the clean...
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Senators: No news is bad news
Nine US Senators have sent a letter to the heads of four broadcast networks expressing “deep concern” about their failure to cover the climate crisis. Darkness is the essential host condition in the...
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Spark! Financing energy efficiency with blessed unrest
Spark — crowd-financing for community-based energy efficiency projects — is here! The anti-bodies are kicking in! When the coal industry desperately tries to stave off its demise by ramming a new...
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