
Climate
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The Dam Building Boom: Right Path to Clean Energy?
Led by China, the developing world is engaged in a flurry of dam construction, touting hydropower as renewable energy in an era of global warming. But critics point out that the human and environmental costs of dams remain high.
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Why I’ll Get Arrested to Stop the Burning of Coal
On March 2, environmentalist Bill McKibben joined demonstrators who marched on a coal-fired power plant in Washington D.C. In this article for Yale Environment 360, he explains why he was ready to go to jail to protest the continued burning of coal.
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Clinton’s China Visit Opens Door on Climate Change
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to China could be the first step in forging a partnership between the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. A leading China expert sets forth a blueprint for how the U.S. and China can slow global warming and strengthen their crucial relationship.
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As Effects of Warming Grow, UN Report is Quickly Dated
Issued less than two years ago, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a voluminous and impressive document. Yet key portions of the report are already out of date, as evidence shows the impacts of warming intensifying from the Arctic to Antarctica.
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Keeping a Watchful Eye on Unstable Antarctic Ice
NASA’s Robert Bindschadler, a leading expert on glaciers and ice sheets, is part of an international team monitoring a large and fast-moving glacier in West Antarctica. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he explains the dramatic impact this unstable mass of ice could have on global sea levels.
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What Obama Must Do on the Road to Copenhagen
If crucial climate negotiations later this year in Copenhagen are to have any chance of success, the U.S. must take the lead. To do that, President Obama needs to act boldly in the coming months.
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The Climate Freeloaders: Emerging Nations Need to Act
Key developing countries have long been exempt from efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, as global climate talks move forward, that policy must change.
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Moving the U.S. Off Carbon With Less Pain, More Gain
Many environmentalists assume that putting a price on carbon and creating a renewable energy economy will require major public sacrifice. But the Sierra Club’s Carl Pope argues that a well-designed package of market reforms — not austerity — will lead to a prosperous, low-carbon future.
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The Cost of the Biofuel Boom: Destroying Indonesia’s Forests
The clearing of Indonesia’s rain forest for palm oil plantations is having profound effects threatening endangered species, upending the lives of indigenous people, and releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
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As Europe Fiddles, U.S. May Take Lead on Climate Change
Europe’s backpedaling last month on toughening its carbon trading system may have signaled the end of its leadership on climate change. Now, with a new administration and Congress, America appears ready to commit itself to tackling global warming.
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On Chinese Water Project, A Struggle Over Sound Science
Geologist Yong Yang has serious concerns about plans for a massive Yangtze River diversion project. When he went public with them, he found out how difficult it can be to challenge a government decision in China. The third in a series on Chinese environmentalists.
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Exploring the Economics of Global Climate Change
Gary Yohe is spending a lot of time these days studying the economic issues surrounding climate change. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, the Wesleyan University economist talked about why the world needs to start taking steps to adapt to climate change and why strong action must be taken despite uncertainty about the extent of the warming and its ultimate effects.
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A Green Agenda for the President’s First 100 Days
Environmentalists from Bill McKibben and Paul Hawken, to Fred Krupp and Frances Beinecke offer President Obama their advice on the priorities he should set for the first 100 days of his administration.
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A Green Scorecard for Stimulating the Economy
In evaluating an economic recovery package, the new U.S. administration and Congress must weigh any proposed spending on highways or mass transit or wind-power transmission routes on the basis of clear criteria that would assess just how green the projects will be.
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Capturing the Ocean’s Energy
Despite daunting challenges, technology to harness the power of the waves and tides is now being deployed around the world from Portugal to South Korea to New York’s East River. These projects, just beginning to produce electricity, are on the cutting edge of renewable energy’s latest frontier: hydrodynamic power.
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Amory Lovins on Why Energy Efficiency is the Key
In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Amory Lovins, co-founder and chairman of Rocky Mountain Institute, says that world's biggest untapped energy source is efficiency. And retooling for energy efficiency will require "barrier-busting" at many levels. And government, Lovins says, "should steer, not row."
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Obama is Ready to Move on a Clean-Energy Economy
For four decades, American politicians have talked about ending U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But during the campaign and since his election victory, Barack Obama has made it clear that he finally intends to change the way America powers itself.
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Offshore Drilling in Alaska: Time to Slow the Rush
In the last eight years, vast areas of offshore Alaska have been opened to oil drilling. Now, a conservationist argues, the Obama administration must reverse the Bush-era policies if the state is to avoid irreparable harm to Arctic wildlife and to some of the most biologically productive waters on earth.
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The Greenhouse Gas That Nobody Knew
When industry began using NF3 in high-tech manufacturing, it was hailed as a way to fight global warming. But new research shows that this gas has 17,000 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide and is rapidly increasing in the atmosphere and that's turning an environmental success story into a public relations disaster.
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Under a Sooty Exterior, a Green China Emerges
You’ve heard the environmental horror stories: rivers running black, air unfit to breathe, two new coal-fired power plants a week. But thanks to a surging entrepreneurial spirit and new policies, China is fast becoming a leader in green innovation, from recycling to developing electric cars to harnessing the wind.
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President Obama’s Big Climate Challenge
As he assumes the presidency, Barack Obama must make climate-change legislation and investment in green energy top priorities. And he must be ready to take bold — and politically unpopular — action to address global warming.