Last week, the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies released a report called Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change. The document is the result of an extensive analysis of how well Americans grasp the practical and scientific nature of climate change, and by the fifth page, the authors have declared the quality of the knowledge for 52% of those surveyed [...]
Bill McKibben’s 350.org movement, a grassroots organization that promotes cutting carbon dioxide emissions to 1988 levels of 350 parts per million, is promoting a global day of action on environmental issues this Sunday, October 10th. In a follow-up to the group’s wildly successful “day of political action” on Saturday, October 24th, 2009, this year’s event is a massive “global work [...]
Jeffrey Kalmus contends that I have not argued why my previous post, “China in the Lead,” matters. So now I will attempt to do so, echoing and extending what Max wrote in response to Jeffrey yesterday. The biggest reason – perhaps I assumed it was rather self-evident – why the rapid Chinese clean-energy Manhattan project matters is because it proves [...]
In a generally well-written article, HPR staff writer Will Rafey recently addressed the need to raise the gas tax “to make the private cost of driving a car reflect its actual social costs: global warming, air pollution, traffic congestion, and highway maintenance,” and how difficult this has become in the current political climate. I have no disagreement with the thrust [...]
On Tuesday night I went to the Harvard Political Union’s discussion on climate change, which was centered around the question of what steps the University should be taking to be greener and on the issue of global warming in general. As part of what seemed to be a minority of non-affiliated observers at the event — i.e. not being part [...]
Harvard Thinks Big was billed as an “important” event. Its Facebook page was ebullient. Expectations were high. “A dream team of 10 Harvard professors will each talk for 10 minutes about the 1 thing they’re most passionate about…Inspired by TED Talks (Ted.com) and motivated by what makes Harvard great — amazing professors, cutting-edge research, and breakthrough ideas…” But somehow this doesn’t go far enough. As [...]
Here’s the deal: if Martha Coakley loses tonight then it’s good news for Lloyd Blankfein, who’s worried about financial regulation reform, for the super rich, whose taxes will remain low, and for everyone generally interested in preventing Obama from governing this country. On the other hand, her loss is bad news for those of us who care about adequate health [...]
Obama neglects the best stimulus of all: space exploration In the past few months President Obama has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending to lift the United States out of the recession. Employing arguably the most talented engineers and scientists and involving the most cutting-edge research, spaceflight is one of the very best ways in which Obama [...]
Yesterday Richard Garwin spoke in the Science Center about the role of nuclear energy in the country’s energy future, and I was once again amazed at how clearly the numbers demonstrate our nation’s strong need for nuclear energy. If we want to stem global warming and continue to grow our economy at a strong pace by continuing to provide low-cost [...]
Yesterday Richard Garwin spoke in the Science Center about the role of nuclear energy in the country’s energy future, and I was once again amazed at how clearly the numbers demonstrate our nation’s strong need for nuclear energy. If we want to stem global warming and continue to grow our economy at a strong pace by continuing to provide low-cost [...]
New Labour is still the defining movement of British politics “This our hope: not just to promise change but to achieve it. New Labour. New Britain.” In the 1997 parliamentary elections, these words won Tony Blair the largest victory of any prime minister since Clement Attlee. Yet “New Labour” was more than a catchy slogan; Blair aspired to a different [...]
