Last week's United Nations climate change negotiations in Bali ended with a whimper, not a bang, an "agreement" to postpone negotiations until 2009, when the United States will have a new president, one presumably more committed to action than President Bush. The most dramatic moment came when foreign diplomats loudly booed U.S. representatives. While it is always satisfying to see the Bush administration take a drubbing on climate change, the whole episode distracted attention from the reality that Kyoto has failed for reasons entirely unrelated to the United States.

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Hawaii is a dream. The warm air, the flowers, the hot sun on the ocean. My memories of it are so positive that I am suspicious of them.

Kauai was the birthplace of "The Death of Environmentalism," which we released at the Environmental Grantmakers meeting in 2004 at the decadently luxurious Hyatt in Kauai. It is hands down the most spectacular hotel I've ever been experienced. It's a toss up whether the best part about it is the fact that it is literally perched at the end of the beach, or the fact that it is surrounded by interconnected swimming pools.

Turns out the Hyatt, like much of Hawaii, is coal-powered. I say this not to shame anyone for going there. I for one feel not one whit of shame over swimming in its salt water lagoon and sipping its pina coladas. (Anyone who says they feel shameful for such behaviors are either lying or pitiable.) I'm not even accusing environmental funders of hypocrisy (at least not for going to the Hyatt). I point it out simply to ask a rhetorical question: what the hell is one of the sunniest places on earth doing getting its power from coal?

Continue reading "The Birth of Death, and the Hawaiian Sun " »

The Bali global warming talks ended in nothing, but that didn't stop European leaders from pointing to the bright side: the U.S. was booed.

Here's Wash Post:

"As we saw in the room today, the political price for blocking things has come up in recent months," said Connie Hedegaard, the Danish climate and energy minister, whose government will host the 2009 treaty talks.

Continue reading "When Diplomats Boo: How Global Climate Talks Reached a New Nadir" »

Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports that the state Public Utility Commission will consider a surcharge on utility bills to fund a proposed institute for climate solutions. The surcharge would provide a projected $60 million per year to address gaps in existing research funding.

Continue reading "A Small Step for CA" »

Breakthrough Institute 2008 Youth Conference: Breakthrough Generation

April 10th -- 13th, 2008
Washington, DC

Download Application Here

Sick of politics as usual? Ready for the current political establishment to retire? Have a few big ideas of your own? Then you may be part of the Breakthrough Generation.

On April 10th, 2008, a small group of the country's top young progressives and post-environmental thinkers and activists will come together in Washington, DC to outline a vision and a strategy for a new progressive movement, one that leaves behind the old generation's narrow and complaint-based politics.

Young people today are faced with an unprecedented opportunity to change the course of this country. The collapse of the Bush presidency has ended three decades of conservative ideological dominance, and U.S. political identities are adrift. It is clear that how young adults seize this opportunity will determine the course of U.S. politics for years to come.

The new progressive movement has begun, and youth are already taking the lead. The youth climate movement has quickly become one of the largest student movements in decades, and it has the potential to significantly influence national politics and establish new and lasting political identities. In November, the Power Shift 2007 Conference took the movement to a new level, drawing over 6,000 students from across the country and gaining the attention of key federal policymakers.

Breakthrough Generation -- the youth initiative of the Breakthrough Institute -- aims to capture this moment by fostering the creation of a new and powerful politics that transcends the politics of the Baby Boomer generation and establishes strategic vision and clarity among today's young leaders for overcoming our present and future challenges. This conference will be its foundational meeting.

The founders of the Breakthrough Institute have made their own case for a new politics to overcome our ecological crises. But they do not view these writings as the final word on the new politics, and are committed to an intellectually fervent, open debate that engages youth. Breakthrough Generation will be led by a new generation of leaders who are hungry for a fresh, positive, inspirational approach to our challenges, and it will develop its capacity to become a key intellectual innovator and advocator for young Americans.

Continue reading "Breakthrough Institute 2008 Youth Conference: Breakthrough Generation" »

On December 5, Senator Inhofe cited our book during Senate hearings on global warming. Here's our response:

December 6, 2007

Senator James Inhofe
453 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3603
Fax: (202) 224-5167

Dear Senator Inhofe:

During yesterday's Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007, you cited a passage from a New Republic piece we wrote in advance of our book, Break Through, From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility in support of an amendment by Senator Voinovich. The Voinovich amendment would have required certification of available clean energy technologies before emissions caps would go into effect. While we certainly appreciate your willingness to consider our arguments calling for an innovation and technology centered approach to addressing climate change, we want to make clear our argument on investment and cap and trade legislation such as Lieberman-Warner.

Continue reading "Open Letter to Senator Inhofe" »

There are a number of items in today's Wall Street Journal that underscore the role of stable financing for clean energy technology. Is Clean Tech the Next Bubble underscores an inconvenient truth regarding clean technology products - consumers are not willing to pay. According to this report "a whopping 47% of U.S. adults say they just don't care" about clean technology products.

Continue reading "Putting the Green in Green" »

Yesterday a group of more than three dozen leading energy scientists, including three Nobel Prize winners, called on Congress and presidential candidates to invest $30 billion each year in clean energy.

The New York Times' Andy Revkin notes,

There is wide agreement among scientists that inadequate funds are going to basic research in such fields as capturing carbon dioxide from smokestacks or the atmosphere, advancing photovoltaic cells and other solar power systems, finding ways to store large amounts of electricity from intermittent sources like wind or the sun, and making nuclear power more secure.

Last year, Revkin wrote a long piece after interviewing more than four dozen energy experts who all agreed major new investments in clean energy were needed to deal with global warming.

Now, this leading group of scientists are pointedly saying that regulations, like the Kyoto protocol, won't be enough:

A wide range of policies aimed at increasing conservation, efficiency, and reducing emissions is vital, but carbon prices and regulations alone will not create new, clean and affordable energy systems soon enough or at the scale needed.

Continue reading "Top Energy Scientists Call for $30 Bi Annual Investment in Clean Energy" »