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In pure economic efficiency terms, the most cost-effective system for establishing a price on carbon pollution and starting a societal move toward a lower-carbon future, might be an upstream simple price.
Carbon Fee not tax

This price is not a “tax”, because a ‘tax’ implies a taking of a good. That assumes that we have a right [...]

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The catastrophic damage already having occurred and to occur due to Deepwater Horizon is beyond the comprehension and imagination of all but a few. And, for far too many, this is occurring out of sight, out of mind, as we go along our daily lives, get caught up in watching world cup soccer and [...]

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This guest post comes from Bill in Laurel, Maryland, who has been doing occasional posts highlighting changes in the Arctic.

Okay, now on to this week’s news.  The international study of the Arctic still goes on, despite our economic troubles.  At the North Pole in April 2010, two buoys with weather instruments were launched. [...]

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For too long, on my “to do” list has been to post on the serious questions related to the booming in America’s natural gas reserves due to the development of “Fracking” (hydraulic fracturing) technology and approaches that have enabled exploitation of the massive amount of carbon atoms in shale natural gas.
We know that “Clean Coal” [...]

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Simply put, Washington, DC, weather is miserable at this time.  It feels like the middle of August, at the moment, with temperatures nearing 100 degree with very high humidity. Life for many: air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned office, with too much sweat in the seconds moving from one air-conditioned space [...]

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To look at images of the oil sheen across the Gulf, oil covered wildlife, the gushing oil from the damaged well, the faces of devastated residents along the coast should overwhelm all of us emotionally.  Words fail even as those images overwhelm. In the face of this catastrophic damage, we seek the paths to express [...]

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The EPA has issued its analysis of the financial and economic impacts of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act.  The bumper sticker summary of their (fundamentally flawed) analysis: action to mitigate climate change is affordable.  Sadly, however, the EPA has continued the strong economic tradition of robust analysis of costs of action with dramatic understating of [...]

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If embraced, solar cooking has the potential for providing a meaningful Silver BB in the fight to mitigate climate change, in the struggle to reduce health damage from polluting cooking (such as wood or coal burning in inadequately vented homes), and aiding economic strengthening for some of the world’s poorest people (reducing costs (both monetary [...]

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BP…lie lie ieesss
Yah so what, some birds die
Laugh Laugh to the bank
HA HA, an oil rig sank.
There are many ways to deal with tragedies and painful situations, with parody often being an effective path. Well, rewriting Lady Gaga with “Oilmance” might have captured how to think about Bloody Polluters.

See the lyrics and discussion of them [...]

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Raging Grannies can create attention to issues through the unexpected image of a ‘friendly granny’ screaming “you suck”. The video that follows rewrites the Battle Hymn of the Republic to express

The video starts off with an identification of the real challenge: “America is addicted to oil.” Understandably — but mistakenly — the outrage [...]

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