Climate 411

New Date for Obama’s Copenhagen Trip

By / Published: December 4, 2009

The White House just announced an updated schedule for President Obama’s trip to the international climate change talks in Copenhagen.

The President will now go to Copenhagen on December 18th. That means he’ll be there for the final day of negotiations — and will have a chance to ensure the talks make progress toward an effective treaty that can be negotiated and adopted after Senate action on a bill to cap U.S. carbon pollution.

AP says the President is:

.. hoping to capitalize on steps by India and China and build a more meaningful political accord.

The Chicago Tribune‘s The Swamp, meanwhile, says the White House decision:

… immediately raises expectations anew for some type of climate agreement to result from the talks.

Here’s the official White House statement in full.

Also posted in International / Comments are closed

James Murdoch: A New, Conservative, Clean Energy Champion

By / Published: December 4, 2009

The energy and enviro communities are all buzzing about today’s Washington Post op-ed by James Murdoch, the head of News Corporation’s Europe and Asia divisions, and son of its founder, Rupert Murdoch.

The op-ed, “Clean energy conservatives can embrace”, calls for a capping carbon pollution and supports market-based incentives for clean energy. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth reading.

Also posted in Economics, News / Comments are closed

Link: Dave Roberts on “The Story of Cap and Trade”

By / Published: December 2, 2009

Many of you have already seen the video, “The Story of Cap and Trade.” David Roberts of Grist writes,

The greenosphere is all abuzz about a new video from Annie Leonard, creator of semi-famous anti-consumerism video/book The Story of Stuff.

While the video is very engagingly done and gets many things right, it unfortunately gets some important things wrong.

David addresses some of those things in his response to it:

…I think it’s the wrong argument. Activists like Leonard are just mis-identifying the barriers to effective climate action. I’ll have lots more to say on that subject soon, but for now, let’s focus on the video.

Click through to watch the video and read David’s post.

Posted in What Others are Saying / Read 2 Responses

Friedman: Solar Panel Boom Is Getting Away from U.S.

By / Published: September 16, 2009

Today’s New York Times includes a fine column by Thomas Friedman, in which he explores the exploding solar panel industry. He finds to his dismay that it’s all overseas. He concludes, “So, if you like importing oil from Saudi Arabia, you’re going to love importing solar panels from China.”

We’ve been saying this for years, and it’s still true: The best way to create clean energy jobs right here in the U.S. is to cap global warming pollution. Here’s more on how a cap will create jobs.

Posted in What Others are Saying / Read 1 Response

Yet Another Poll: Americans Want Clean Energy

By / Published: August 28, 2009

Everyone’s talking about the latest poll from the Washington Post, which shows Americans support reforming U.S. energy policy and capping greenhouse gas pollution.

  • NRDC points out that support for energy policy is slightly higher than it was in June… after a summer’s worth of industry attacks.
  • NWF reminds us that it wasn’t just this summer — Americans have been “hit from all sides” by industry-funded campaigns for a year and a half.
  • And Climate Progress has this key takeaway: “A lot of people understand energy prices are going up if we do nothing.”

The new poll has a lot of juicy data for clean energy supporters. Here are some of our favorite tidbits:

  • 57 percent support the proposed changes to U.S. energy policy being developed by Congress and the administration, and even better —
  • When asked if they would support a cap and trade program that lowered greenhouse gases but raised electric bills by $10 month, Americans supported the move by 58 percent to 40 percent.  ($10 is the total cost to households estimated by the Congressional Budget Office)
  • The Post says “GOP criticism of the House energy and climate bill appears to have primarily influenced Republicans themselves.” Support for cap-and-trade dropped among Republicans, but rose among independents.
  • 36 percent think changes to U.S. energy policy would add more jobs in their state. Only 15 percent think it would cause job losses.
  • An amazing 9 out of 10 people support further development of solar and wind power, while 8 out of 10 support development of electric cars.

All this support is wonderful, but our work is far from done. The Wall Street Journal‘s Environmental Capital reminds us that opponents are in the minority, but they are adamant.

Your Senators need to know that these aren’t just poll numbers — they are real voters who care about clean energy. Please call today!

Also posted in Climate Change Legislation / Read 2 Responses

What Does the Global Warming Bill Have to Do With Foreign Oil?

By / Published: August 28, 2009

Most Americans can get behind the goal of importing less oil (though we don’t always agree on how to get there). One of the great strengths of the climate bill is that it’s the most effective and responsible way to make real cuts in imported oil. Two releases this week shed light on how:

  • We just posted a quick summary of how the climate bill will reduce oil imports. Short version: No matter how much we drill, the U.S. burns more oil than we have in our borders, so we import it. The climate bill will cut use of ALL oil, so we can get away with importing less.
  • The Center for American Progress just released a report on reducing oil dependence [PDF]. It has nice graphs outlining recent trends, discusses specific measures to reduce oil use, and notes how the climate bill encourages those measures.

It’s no surprise that Big Oil has put its resources to work against this bill. Climate Progress takes a look at the history and recent political activity of the oil industry.

The Wall Street Journal‘s Environmental Capital notes that other buyers can keep the oil-producing states in business without us. But in any case, we can be more secure if we reduce our own dependence on imported oil. The climate bill gives us a strong start.

Also posted in Energy / Read 1 Response