Climate 411

A Profusion of Green Jobs is Just a Carbon Cap Away

Sheryl CanterThis Sunday’s New York Times Magazine had a cover story on green investment titled "Capitalism to the Rescue". We’ve mentioned in other posts that venture capital investment in clean energy is on the rise. This article was interesting in that it profiled one particular venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins. The author interviewed the firm’s partners about why they see clean energy as such a good investment.

To start with, explained partner Randy Komisar, the current energy market is so large and outdated that "green-tech" is a huge and relatively low-risk opportunity. And we’re not, as many think, waiting for the new inventions to come. We’re waiting for federal policy to give private investment incentive. That is, we’re waiting for a mandatory carbon cap.

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Posted in Economics, Energy / Read 2 Responses

Colbert on “Prescott Oil”

Sheryl CanterThis Stephen Colbert clip on oil companies and the environment is fall-over funny and dead-on right.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Posted in Cars and Pollution / Comments are closed

Keeping Cool in a World that’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Gernot Wagner's profileHot, Flat, and Crowded - by Thomas FriedmanNew York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, has completed his transformation from Middle East specialist to green energy expert. He wants the United States to similarly switch focus.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Friedman’s latest book, explains how and why we must stop relying on "fuels from hell" (coal, oil, and gas) as our primary source of energy, and instead switch to "fuels from heaven" (wind, water, and solar). Without this shift, he argues, not only will we cook the planet, but wreck the economy and destroy our way of life. It is tough to quibble with Friedman’s assessments.

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Posted in News / Read 6 Responses

Time-Lapse Video of Alaska’s Eroding Coastline

Sheryl CanterLast week, the New York Times Dot Earth blog posted a sobering video of coastline erosion in Alaska. This is no simulation – it’s a time-lapse video made from pictures taken two hours apart from late June to late July of this year.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/mv5udkIacBw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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Posted in Arctic & Antarctic / Read 1 Response

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Up 3 Percent in 2007

James Wang's profile2007 EmissionsLast Thursday, the Global Carbon Project released its annual report on the state of the carbon cycle, Carbon Budget 2007 [PDF]. It emphasizes (as we reported earlier this year) that CO2 levels are continuing upward, and the rate of increase is accelerating.

One reason for the acceleration in CO2 concentrations is higher fossil fuel emissions. Despite rising fuel prices, global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels rose 3 percent in 2007. That’s just slightly below the average increase of 3.5 percent per year since 2000.

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Posted in News / Read 24 Responses

Green Jobs Guidebook Gives Soup-to-Nuts Advice

Tim O'Connor's profileGreen Jobs GuideToday we’re launching a resource for people who want to enter the green job market. Our new Green Jobs Guidebook is a first of its kind, addressing everything from where to get training, to where to find good-paying jobs that help the environment. The guide focuses on California, but much of the information is applicable anywhere in the country.

I co-authored the guide with California Green Jobs Associate Amy Pasciucco. Together we painstakingly researched green employment opportunities and expected salaries, compiled growth projections, and identified the experience and education levels required by employers.

And we didn’t stop there.

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Posted in Economics / Read 1 Response