The cover story of this week's New York Times Magazine is a piece by Paul Krugman on the economics of climate change. In it, the Nobel Prize-winning economist makes a compelling case for the use of market-based tools to limit greenhouse emissions. Crucially, Krugman addresses the economic effects of installing a cap and trade model, presenting a persuasive argument against the idea that......read more
The 2010 midterm election campaigns are in full swing, and Democrats are in jeopardy of losing many seats in both the House and Senate. Many of these positions could be won by candidates supported by the Tea Party, which wants less government and views climate legislation as just another federal power grab. In Indiana, where Democratic Representative Baron P. Hill spoke in defense of his......read more
After a midterm election that saw the House of Representatives shift from Democratic to Republican control, it's become abundantly clear that comprehensive climate legislation is going to be incredibly difficult if not impossible to pass. That's all the more evident when you consider that two dozen members of Congress who voted for the Waxman-Markley climate legislation a short while......read more
For the third consecutive year, greenhouse gas emissions fell in the nine Northeastern states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI (pronounced "Reggie"), a market-based cap-and-trade program. Carbon emissions in the states dropped six percent between 2012 and 2013, from 92 million to 86 million tons. States in the RGGI program turned to lower emitting electricity......read more
BP has successfully installed a new tighter fitting cap on the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico (watch a video here). The next step is a a pressure test, which will determine if they can effectively stop the oil from flowing for the first time since the well exploded almost three months ago. Scientists are hoping to see pressure increase and then stabilize, meaning that the cap is working......read more
Those still hoping global leaders will band together in the face of climate change have found little justification for their optimism lately. First, the Copenhagen negotiations were, by most accounts, a spectacular failure. Now the leader of those negotiations, Yvo de Boer, has resigned as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. For the time being, an......read more
It all started with a conversation and a spur of the moment trip to Cape Cod. Late into the night, over a few stiff Manhattans, a group of close friends and I planned the next morning. We would begin early; earlier than late-night scotch and revelry typically allows. Bleary eyed but excited we arrived on the shore a few hours later, greeted by high tide and a thin mist of rain. I started shooting......read more
Aaaannnd we're off! Ten years after the proposal was first submitted, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement has approved plans for the first American offshore wind farm. In a landmark affirmation for renewable energy, the Feds pushed forward plans to build the 468 megawatt Cape Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts. In addition to providing renewable......read more
Paris-born Emmanuel Coupe knows a thing or two about landscape photography. The globe-trotting shooter was named 2009 Landscape Photographer of the Year for this extremely epic shot of a Scottish sunrise. So if you like landscape photos, Coupe's online portfolio is a good place to get inspired. Thanks to My Modern Met, we've discovered Coupe's extra-amazing work from south-central Utah, and it......read more
The new video for Bill Baird's "Captain Brain" takes us on a surf journey to the north of Scotland, where the water's cold but the peelers are siiiiiiiick (falsetto). Not sure if this is a fan video or what. The filmmaker is Edinburgh's Jonas Bak, who pieced it together from a trip he took with his mates. Dig the spirit and rhythm of it. ...read more