NewsTrust - Environment - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Climate

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

WhoRunsGov.com - Nov. 19 (Interview) - The Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the country's most influential environmental groups, has sent at least a half-dozen former employees into prime government positions tasked with writing U.S. climate and energy policies.

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Opinion: Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Christian Schwägerl - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - US President Barack Obama came to office promising hope and change. But on climate change, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor George W. Bush. Now, should the climate summit in Copenhagen fail, the blame will lie squarely with Obama.

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Copenhagen summit: Change we can't yet believe in

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - Nov. 16 (Editorial) - Confirming yesterday what had already been apparent for some months, Barack Obama and other leaders yesterday said that time had run out to secure a legally binding climate deal at Copenhagen. They said the 22 remaining days were just too few in number to secure binding emissions targets and overcome the divisions between the developed and developing world. This could be viewed as a realistic assessment. Mr Obama said that we must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The British government's view is also optimistic. As long as political targets and outline commitments are agreed at Copenhagen, why should it matter that a few more months are taken to thrash out the details, if the end result is a package that is workable and enforceable? Rather a good package later than a weak package now. After all, the same thing happened to the Montreal protocol on CFCs, which took a year to harden up but remains the best of its kind.

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Climate Rage

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - By Naomi Klein - Nov. 11 (Opinion) - With Copenhagen now likely to begin before Congress has passed even a weak-ass climate bill co-authored by the coal lobby, U.S. politicians have dropped the superhero metaphors and are scrambling to lower expectations for achieving a serious deal at the climate summit. It's just one meeting, says U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, not "the be-all and end-all." As faith in government action dwindles, however, climate activists are treating Copenhagen as an opportunity of a different kind. On track to be the largest environmental gathering in history, the summit represents a chance to seize the political terrain back from business-friendly half-measures, such as carbon offsets and emissions trading, and introduce some effective, common-sense proposals — ideas that have less to do with creating complex new markets for pollution and more to do with keeping coal and oil in the ground.

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Copenhagen already a success

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Globe and Mail - By Bruce Anderson - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - There is a huge dysfunction between the way the average voter comes at these issues and the way policy spokespeople in the corporate, environmental NGO and government worlds often do. And at no time is this more visible than when mega climate/carbon events like Copenhagen come around. Most people are worried that the planet is under a lot of pressure, and many believe the climate is changing as a result. Considerably fewer have examined the science behind climate change, and fewer still the complex formulae that are at the heart of greenhouse-gas reduction targets.

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The missing link in the climate change debate

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Adam Corner - Nov. 09 (Opinion) - From 10:10 to the government's Act On CO2 campaign, it is now widely accepted that tackling climate change will require tackling behaviour change too. But until now, a key piece has been missing from the puzzle – psychology. The study of human behaviour has been conspicuous by its absence from the climate change debate.

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How to boost fuel efficiency? Raise taxes, executives say

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Reuters - By Scott Malone - Nov. 06 (Opinion) - While politically unpalatable, gasoline that costs at least $4 a gallon would have a far greater effect on American fuel usage than Washington's $25 billion loan program meant to spark investment in new technologies

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A Level Field

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Oct. 23 (Opinion) - The antitrust division will not say if it is investigating Monsanto. But in recent months, it has asked Monsanto and its competitors for information to determine whether Monsanto is breaching antitrust laws.

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The world's future is being decided this weekend

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Nicholas Stern - Oct. 18 (Opinion) - We must agree to halt deforestation and curtail air travel now if the Copenhagen summit is to succeed Energy and environment ministers from the world?s major economies are meeting in London today to try to accelerate crucial negotiations over an international treaty on climate change. Strong progress has been made in the past few weeks, with Japan, for example, announcing that it will cut its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 25% by 2020 relative to levels in 1990. But there are still major obstacles and some doubt whether a strong global deal can be hammered out in time for the United Nations?s conference on climate change in Copenhagen, now just seven weeks away. Agreement can be reached if governments now ...

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Green Inc.: Apple Resigns From Chamber Over Climate

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Kate Galbraith - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - Apple became the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing climate issues.

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Errors of omission

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - Bumblebees cannot fly—or so physical models are said to have shown. That the insects routinely become airborne demonstrates the shortcomings of some theoretical accounts of the world. But one of the strengths of the scientific method is that, when presented with evidence that discredits their theories, scientists are forced to concede that their models are wrong and endeavour to learn from the failure. In science, observation always trumps theory, no matter how elegant the theory might be. The same is true of theoretical models of climate change. Over the past decade there have been large variations in the projected increase in global temperatures and sea levels over the coming years. ...

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Copenhagen Climate Talks: Why They May Fail

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Sharon Begley - Sep. 24 (Opinion) - This is Climate Week here in New York City, so if you have been swept up in the excitement over Hugh Jackman's lending his celebrity to the cause of averting a catastrophic greenhouse effect ("people in developing countries have contributed the least to climate change and are suffering the most from it," he said at Monday's opening ceremony at the New York Public Library), or President Obama's speech at the United Nations Tuesday warning of “irreversible catastrophe" if the nations of the world do not cut carbon emissions, you might feel optimistic that the nations of the world will get their acts together enough to produce a climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Forgive me for being the skunk at this greenhouse-gas-enhanced garden party.

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Some Bad Climate News and Some Good

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Sep. 16 (Editorial) - Though a bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions has been put on the back burner, all is not lost. The E. P. A. is rolling out emissions rules for the automotive industry.

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Progressives shouldn't confuse a party with a movement

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By David Sirota - Sep. 08 (Opinion) - Though the 2006 and 2008 elections were billed as progressive movement successes, the story behind them highlights a longer-term failure. During those contests, most leaders of Washington's major labor, environmental, antiwar and anti-poverty groups spent millions of dollars on a party endeavor — specifically, on electing a Democratic president and Democratic Congress. In the process, many groups subverted their own movement agendas in the name of electoral unity.

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We're pumping out CO2 to the point of no return. It's time to alter course

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By George Monbiot - Sep. 01 (Opinion) - Scientists now say peak temperatures will not fall back. Join me in taking the 10:10 pledge – it?s the best shot we?ve got left Until a few months ago, government targets for cutting greenhouse gases at least had the virtue of being wrong. They were the wrong targets, by the wrong dates, and they bore no relationship to the stated aim of preventing more than 2C of global warming. But they used a methodology that even their sternest critics (myself included) believed could be improved until it delivered the right results: the cuts just needed to be raised and accelerated. Three papers released earlier this year changed all that. The first, published in in February, showed that the climate change we cause today will be "largely irreversible ...

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The life lessons of Burning Man

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - By Mark Morford - Aug. 28 (Opinion) - As I've been lured back to the sweltering, dusty sexed-up madness that is Burning Man again this year -- my sixth time -- by a gaggle of delicious friends, I am hereby reminded of a few hundred truths, half-truths, outright lies and astonishing epiphanies offered up by the world-famous, Christian-feared, beautifully debauched, sensory overloaded, impossible-to-describe art-survivalist-camping-rave megaspectacle now underway in the remote Nevada desert.

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Washington state must lead on solutions to climate change

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Phil Rockefeller - Aug. 27 (Opinion) - Washington state must take leadership in finding solutions to climate change, writes state Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Kitsap County. The repercussions for the economy, the environment and state infrastructure require action sooner rather than later.

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Doing away with dams

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - Aug. 16 (Editorial) - Dams aren't the infrastructure darlings they once were. Since 1999, 430 dams have come down, according to the American Rivers environmental group. The reasons are largely economic: Maintenance is high as the concrete walls age. Also, power needs can be supplied by other sources. The decline of migrating salmon and steelhead are also a factor. These problems don't mean all dams are doomed or new ones will never be built. Dam defenders note that hydropower is produced without emissions. And flood control and growing water needs remain issues that are suited for the water-controlling structures.

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Plane, copter collide over Hudson; 9 believed dead

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Verena Dobnik - Aug. 08 (Opinion) - NEW YORK -- A sightseeing helicopter carrying five Italian tourists and a small plane collided above the Hudson River on Saturday, sending debris into the water and forcing people on New Jersey’s waterfront to scamper for cover. Authorities believe all nine people aboard the two aircraft were...

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10 amazing truths you already suspected

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - By Mark Morford - Aug. 07 (Opinion) - 1) Let's start with, say, tanning beds. Turns out they cause cancer like a mofo. I mean, as bad as arsenic. As mustard gas. Smoking. Chimney sweeping. The Jonas Brothers. I mean, obviously. Like you didn't already know. Like you thought it was all healthy fun and games to strip yourself naked and lay on a bed of giant blue light bulbs and have ultraviolet rays blasted into every inch of your skin for hours per week and think, yeah, this can't be all bad, can it?

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A Scrap of Decency

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Bharati Chaturvedi - Aug. 05 (Opinion) - From India to Brazil to the Philippines, recyclers are experiencing a precipitous drop in income. Trash pickers and scrap dealers in Minas Gerais State in Brazil, for example, saw a decline of as much as 80 percent in the price of old magazines and 81 percent for newspapers, and a 77 percent drop in the price of cardboard from October 2007 to last December.

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Is The White House's Organic Garden Toxic To Kids?

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Forbes - By Jeff Stier - Jul. 23 (Comment) - No, according to toxicologists. It ought to be, according to environmentalists.

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Climate Loopholes

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Jul. 21 (Editorial) - In the last-minute wheeling and dealing of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, the House bill acquired two ways to evade compliance that the Senate must fix.

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One Newspaper, Many Checkbooks

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Clark Hoyt - Jul. 19 (Opinion) - Lindsey Hoshan, a freelance journalist in Palo Alto, Calif., hopes to sell a multimedia slide show and maybe an article to The Times about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a mass of floating plastic trash caught in swirling currents in a stretch of ocean twice the size of Texas. But first, she has to get there. To help finance a $10,000 reporting trip aboard a research vessel, Hoshaw has turned to Spot.Us, a Web site where reporters appeal for donations to pay for their projects. If she can raise $6,000 before the September departure date — so far, only about $1,600 has come in — she will take out a loan for the rest, she said. The Times has told Hoshaw that it might pay about $700 for the pictures, more if it also buys a story.

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A fine green start, but Miliband must go further

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Jul. 19 (Editorial) - There is much to be said in favour of the government?s plan, announced last week, for kickstarting a revolution in green energy generation in Britain. For the first time, ministers made it clear how Britain can expect to achieve their much-vaunted goal of making serious reductions in our carbon dioxide emissions over the next decade. The cabinet had already committed the nation to generating 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Now, through the UK Carbon Transition Plan, published last Wednesday, it has made it clear exactly how this radical change will be brought about. It will be achieved by the nation making a major commitment to wind power, it transpires. New planning laws will make it easier to build onshore wind ...

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