Can simple government programs effectively promote voluntary initiatives to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions? This paper by Matthew J. Kotchen provides an evaluation of how the Connecticut Clean Energy Communities program affects household decisions to voluntarily purchase “green” electricity, which is electricity generated from renewable sources of energy. The results suggest that, within participating communities, subsidizing municipal...
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The Chalmers Climate Calculator allows the user can decide on when and how fast emissions of CO2 are reduced and what this emissions scenario implies in terms of CO2 concentration and global average surface temperature change.Example of questions that can be explored with the model: What if we delay emission cuts for another 10,...
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Three United States senators – Sens. Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch and James Inhofe – last week demonstrated continued confusion about the scientific support for climate change. Senator Graham, R-SC: “The science about global warming has changed. I think they’ve oversold this stuff, quite frankly. I think they’ve been alarmist and the science is in question.” Senator Hatch, R-Utah:...
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Two BP refineries in the U.S. account for 97 percent of “egregious willful” violations given by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), according to a study by the Center for Public Integrity. The study found that the violations occurred in the last three years in BP’s Texas City, Texas refinery and another plant...
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Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Inhofe, and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify about EPA’s role in responding to the BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. As we all know, efforts by BP to stop the oil release continue. While there is no perfect...
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Evo Morales, President of Bolivia Text of Speech before United Nations I have come here to share the conclusions of the First World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held last April 20th to 22nd in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I convened this Conference because in Copenhagen the voice of the...
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Climate Change and the Integrity of Science We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular. All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts. There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything. When someone says that...
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In 2009, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the United States saw their largest absolute and percentage decline (405 million metric tons or 7.0 percent) since 1949, when records began to be collected annually. While emissions have declined in three out of the last four years, 2009 was exceptional. Emissions developments in 2009 reflect a...
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