Ah, the irony. Some environmentalists at the throats of two of the greenest House of Representatives legislators, veritable icons for environmental activists over the past two decades. It may be one of those situations legislators actually welcome – your erstwhile allies in effect providing you cover with their public blasts at how you caved in […]
Posted inEnergy, Policy & Politics
The Pros and Cons … and the Politics … Of Cap and Trade Versus CO2 Taxes
With compromise House legislation headed by California Democrat Henry Waxman moving forward with mandatory emission limit caps on greenhouse gases, cap-and-trade appears to be leaving carbon taxes as an afterthought on Capitol Hill. While prospects for final congressional approval and enactment into law this calendar year still remain far from certain, those advocating emissions taxes […]
Posted inWeather Extremes
Free Training Module Available Online; Specifically Targeted to Meteorologists
A new two-hour training module on climate change science, designed specifically for broadcast meteorologists and weathercasters but a useful tool also for others, provides a broad overview of the what/why/wherefore of climate change. “Climate Change: Fitting the Pieces Together” was developed by “COMET” – the Cooperative Program for Meteorology, Education and Training,” established in 1989 […]
Posted inFeature Article, Policy & Politics
Keeping Tabs on Obama’s Climate Push As House Moves Forward with Legislation
With President Obama and key congressional leaders seeking passage this year of global warming legislation, journalists have a great opportunity to explain the complexities of the issue to their readers. But reporters must be careful too, as climate policy doesn’t fit neatly into a simple storyline of he said/she said. My editor likes to say […]
Posted inClimate Science
Geoengineering – Climate Cure? Or a Cure Worse than the Warming Illness?*
(Editor’s Note: This piece was slightly edited on May 6, 2009, to correct the reference to the author of the MIT Knight Science Journalism Tracker posting.) Geoengineering – intentionally manipulating the climate to counteract the unplanned manipulation of manmade warming – has always been a controversial idea. Sometimes called climate engineering, it includes concepts for […]
Posted inClimate Science, Feature Article
Reporter Revkin’s ‘Worst Misstep’: Aftermath of a Climate Reporting Gaffe*
(*Editor’s Note: This piece was lightly edited on May 7 to reflect a correction in a quotation to the original Revkin article pointed out by a reader.) Veteran New York Times science writer Andy Revkin calls it “my worst misstep as a journalist in 26 years.” A vocal and prolific British climate contrarian is less […]
Posted inPolicy & Politics
Learning from the Difficult Lessons of Real-World Regional Cap-and-Trade
It’s known as “Reggie” for short. And though it may be small, it’s said to be paving the way for something huge: a federal cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the country’s first public sector experiment with auctioning carbon permits, is up and running. It is consistently cited as […]
Posted inFeature Article, Weather Extremes
15 Midwest TV Meteorologists, Weathercasters Weigh Climate Science at Chicago’s Field Museum
CHICAGO, IL. – Fifteen TV meteorologists and weathercasters from across five midwestern states gathered at The Field Museum April 18 for a full-day workshop on climate change science.
Posted inJobs & Economy
When I say SEC or Securities … You Say EPA or Climate Change
So, here’s the deal. Reading through this coverage, one is tempted to substitute environmental or climate change references for all of the securities references. Try it:
Posted inPolicy & Politics
Out-George-Willing George Will: Michael Barone’s ‘Geeks Bearing Formulas’
He’s no George Will in terms of name recognition, and probably not in terms of conservative political credentials either, but that didn’t stop political pundit Michael Barone, now a fellow with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, from stepping into it on the climate change issue.
Posted inArts & Culture, Climate Science, Feature Article
Hollywood to the Aid of Serious Science: Pairing Entertainment and Drama with Education
What do you get when you put a bunch of Hollywood screenwriters and scientists around a table and get them talking? Better movies, and better science in those movies – or at least that’s the plan for a new partnership between the film industry’s creative community and the nation’s scientific establishment.
Posted inPolicy & Politics
‘REDD’ is Part of the New Green In Run-up to Copenhagen Conference
Tropical deforestation, mainly in Brazil and Indonesia, releases massive quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, but political, social, and scientific concerns kept the issue off the table during negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol. As the world prepares for a Kyoto successor, the climate has changed, so to speak, both because reducing emissions […]