Environmentalism

How Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act strengthens EPA’s future ability to take on Big Carbon and the Supreme Court

By Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law School | – The new Inflation Reduction Act is being justly celebrated as the most significant piece of federal legislation to address the climate crisis to date. It includes about US$370 billion in incentives for everything from solar panels to electric vehicles. But there’s some confusion around what it allows […]

Climate Crisis

The Green New Deal Goes Local

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Ithaca, a city of 30,000 people in the Southern Tier of New York state, has pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2030. The city government is leading the way by implementing a strategy to achieve full decarbonization, including all areas of the economy. That means vehicles, buildings, the electric grid, […]

Climate Crisis

Why Climate Activists Need to Celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act, a major Turning Point despite its Warts

Waging Nonviolence

By Daniel Hunter | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – Congress just passed a major $375 billion climate bill, and it will be signed by the president. Yet, when I texted long-standing colleagues in Sunrise Movement, climate justice groups, Sierra Club, local pipeline fights and elsewhere, I found the mood to be… ambivalent, cautious, and non-celebratory. […]

Climate Crisis

Tech will Adapt to Goals Set for it: Offshore Wind Capacity doubles as cost cut in Half

The Conversation

Boosting renewable energy use can happen quickly – and reduce harm to low-income people if done thoughtfully By Erin Baker, UMass Amherst | – With many nations making efforts to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, SciLine interviewed Erin Baker, a professor of industrial engineering and operations at UMass Amherst. Baker discussed the technological, […]

Climate Crisis

Virginia’s bid to be Saudi Arabia of Offshore Wind, Bolstered by Dem IRA, to Save Consumers Billions

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Virginia’s State Corporation Commission on Friday approved America’s largest offshore wind farm project, a 2.6 gigawatt facility to be constructed by Dominion Energy 27 miles out from Virginia Beach. The project could get some help from the Democratic Party Inflation Reduction Act, which the House will likely finalize soon, and […]

Batteries

The Great Pivot: Why Dem Green Energy IRA Will Steamroll Fossil Fuels and Help Save the Planet, Despite Manchin

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Democrats in the Senate Passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, with its nearly $370 billion in new spending on the green energy transition. The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is such that the bill will certainly be passed into law at the end of this month […]

Australia

Women are turning the tide on Climate Policy Worldwide, including Australia

The Conversation

By Jacqueline Peel, The University of Melbourne; Annabelle Workman, The University of Melbourne; Kathryn Bowen, The University of Melbourne; and Rebekkah Markey-Towler, The University of Melbourne | – When the new federal parliament opened last week, a record number of female politicians took their seats: 38% in the House of Representatives and 57% in the […]

Carbon Footprint

Business can no Longer Ignore Extreme Heat, Climate Emergency as they Threaten Bottom Line

The Conversation

By David Lont, University of Otago; Martien Lubberink, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; and Paul Griffin, University of California, Davis | – When record-breaking heatwaves cause train tracks to bend, airport runways to buckle, and roads to melt, as happened in the United Kingdom last month, it is likely that business performance […]

Climate Crisis

Surprise Dem Senate Bill makes US Global Climate Leader, Sees 40% Carbon Reduction by 2030

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a huge surprise on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Joe Manchin, announced an agreement on a package of legislation that includes an unprecedented $369 billion to encourage green energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions, on a […]