Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
global warming
Climate Change Flap at the G8

Climate Change Flap at the G8

by , | Jun 6, 2007

The headlines in the lead-up to the Group of Eight (G8) meeting here in Rostock have focused on the dispute over the proposed declaration on climate change. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the rich countries to commit to limiting global warming to two degrees centigrade. This will involve cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 50% of their 1990 levels by 2050 and increasing energy efficiency by 50% by 2020. Merkel’s proposal drew predictable opposition from George W. Bush. However, to contain further damage to his battered image, Bush called for a conference of the biggest greenhouse gas polluters to deal with global warming. This has alarmed Merkel, who wants to keep the process securely within the United Nations.

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Target Global Warming, Target Exxon

by , | Apr 18, 2007

With over 1400 local events, the April 14 National Day of Climate Action offered a national wakeup call, with citizens in every state raising their voices. But even as we build on this powerful day to move forward, we need to talk about why it’s been so hard for Americans to recognize the climate issue’s urgency.

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Rep. Gilchrest: Stop Climate Change Now

by , | Apr 10, 2007

Wayne Gilchrest is a Republican Congressman from Maryland. He chairs the House Climate Change Caucus and has co-sponsored the Climate Stewardship Act designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 70% below 1990 levels. Because of his reluctance to deny human responsibility for climate change, Gilchrest was not chosen by Republican leader John Boehner to serve on the recently formed bipartisan Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. At the end of March, FPIF contributor Michael Shank interviewed Gilchrest in Washington, DC about Kyoto, the congressional tipping point for climate change legislation, and the challenges posed by India and China.

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Going Green

by , | Mar 13, 2007

Elected officials far and near are doing it. The European Union is doing it. U.S. governors are doing it. Even U.S. mayors are doing it. France’s Jacques Chirac calls it “revolutionary,” and California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger says “the time to act is now.” Even Wal-Mart is getting off the dime.

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Global Warming: The Quick Fix Is In

by , | Feb 8, 2007

Hopes for the Kyoto Protocol are fading, and carbon trading is a farce. To arrest climate change, industrialized states can either "bite the bullet" and adopt socially responsible policies to dramatically cut fossil fuel use and useless consumption. Or they can hope for a "silver bullet"—some new techno-fix that might let them continue to pollute and avoid human extinction. The silver bullet may be winning.

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Global Warming: A Viable Strategy

by , | Oct 4, 2006

The debate in the United States on global climate change is shifting from whether to do something about the problem to what to do. The conventional wisdom focuses on “cap and trade,” also known as tradable emissions permits. The Kyoto protocol, for instance, has instituted a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases (GHGs).

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A New Standard for Preventing Global Warming

A New Standard for Preventing Global Warming

by , | Oct 2, 2006

The debate in the United States on global climate change is shifting from whether to do something about the problem to what to do.1 Prudent people do not want to risk unacceptable adverse economic impacts, even if they are extremely concerned about global climate change. On the other side, equally prudent people do not want to risk accomplishing too little. The debate is stymied, even though several bills on global warming have been introduced into Congress. “There will be no climate change legislation coming out of my committee this year,” Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) recently announced. “Frankly, I don’t know how to write it, and I don’t think anybody does.”2

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Another False Start for Fighting Global Warming

by | Feb 27, 2006

In the aftermath of the third- and fourth-most devastating hurricanes in Atlantic basin history, people are beginning to talk about the connections between extreme weather events and global warming. But connecting the dots between flooded New Orleans, Beaumont and the World Bank Group’s eadquarters in Washington DC seems too big a leap for most people to make. It shouldn’t be. Here’s why.

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The Climate Crisis and Carbon Trading

by | Oct 12, 2005

As the Earth’s temperature rises faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years, the inaction by the Clinton Administration and the resistance by the U.S. Congress to deal with global climate change is isolating the U.S. diplomatically and courting severe warming-driven political, economic, and ecological disruptions.
With our burning of coal and oil, we humans are heating the deep oceans, fracturing Antarctic ice shelves, and fueling more intense El Niños. Glaciers all over the planet are retreating at accelerating rates. Islands are going under from rising sea levels. Plants, fish, birds, and insects are migrating northward. Among the consequences are malaria on Long Island, encephalitis in New York City, and a dramatic increase of tick-borne Lyme disease in New England. Because of the buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide, we have changed the timing of the seasons; spring now arrives more than a week earlier in the northern hemisphere than it d

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