ecomii politics blog

NYT Assesses Obama on Energy and Environment

Ted Nelson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:41:03 +0000

On the one year anniversary of Obama’s election, the New York Times has run an article assessing Barack on some of the issues which have defined his presidency to date. One of the areas covered is Energy and Environment. The analysis is not very in-depth, divided into one paragraph about his campaign promises and one [...]

Maldives’ Government Hold First Underwater Meeting

Ted Nelson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:37:38 +0000

It may only be a matter of years before the Maldives is fully submerged underwater; however, a recent government ceremony literally held underwater was not in preparation for future meetings. The event was staged to draw attention to the global fight against climate change before the Copenhagen meetings in December. The meeting was held Saturday October [...]

G-20 Vague On Environmental Sustainability

Ted Nelson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:03:30 +0000

The Group of 20 (G-20) meeting in Pittsburgh has yielded promise on the environmental sustainability front… but not quantifiable, time-specific progress. Developing nations–including the member states of the African Union–and international leaders–including former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan–have been vocal about what they want from December’s international climate change meeting in Copenhagen: a well defined [...]

Blogging ACES Pt. 2 - Energy Efficiency

Terrence Murray — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:56:44 +0000

Image Credit: maciekSz, Flickr CC The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is a massive piece of legislation that leaves no stone unturned. It has a cap and trade provision; it provides billions of dollars for the development of clean electricity by harnessing the power of wind and sun, and it also includes funding — [...]

Blogging ACES - Cap and Trade

Terrence Murray — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:10:48 +0000

In a close vote — 219-212 — the U.S. House of Representatives approved the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Many Democrats broke party rank and voted against the legislation. The debate now moves to the Senate, where the fate of the bill remains uncertain. If fully enacted into law, ACES, also known as the Waxman [...]

Politicking with our Future

Ted Nelson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:09:45 +0000

A long awaited climate bill made it through the House on Friday June 26th and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. While it’s significant that one house of congress has finally passed a bill to curb greenhouse gases (GHGs), the vote was far too close for comfort: 219 to 212. There is no certainty that [...]

Swine Flu Linked to Industrialized Animal Production

Marie Oser — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:11:39 +0000

On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. A Phase 6 designation indicates that a global pandemic is underway.¹ The WHO designation of a pandemic alert Phase 6 reflects the fact that [...]

CO2 Cubes: Visualize a Tonne of Change

Ted Nelson — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:02:34 +0000

In the US the average person emits a metric ton of CO2 every two weeks. For the developed world as a whole it takes an average of one month. In the developing world, three months. Ever wonder how big a metric ton of carbon dioxide really is? It’s a measurement thrown around in green circles and [...]

China’s Green Revolution

Ted Nelson — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:32:21 +0000

China’s economic emergence has been the big story in the world economy since the fall of the Soviet Union. While China’s development has brought a lot of good, it has taken an often under-reported toll on the environment. It’s now becoming popular to say that if China’s not on board in Copenhagen, the rest of the [...]

First Latino to Supreme Court

Ted Nelson — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:36:14 +0000

Barack Obama named his nominee to replace Justice David Souter on the United States Supreme Court today: Sonia Sotomayor, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge in New York. Sotomayor was appointed to the Federal District Court of Manhattan by the first President Bush and then promoted to the Court of Appeals by Clinton, leading [...]