big downside to biofuels

At Grist Tom Philpott asks, “Why are biofuels losing steam in Europe — and barreling ahead in the U.S.?” His short essay neatly ties up the connection between growing crops for biofuels, the need for fossil fuel based fertilizer to do that, how it is increasing the removal of rain forests, and how the [...]

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rot at the top

Read Robert Reich’s Blog.  Here’s a sample:
…the main thing holding us back is the Rot at the Top–concentrated wealth and power to a degree we haven’t seen in this nation since the late nineteenth century. Mammoth corporations and hugely rich individuals have abused their power and wealth to corrupt our democracy, take over much of [...]

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CBO: carbon tax vs cap-and-trade

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released a report, Policy Options for Reducing CO2 Emissions (13 pg summary, 25 pg report), comparing a carbon tax to cap-and-trade schemes.
A tax on emissions would be the most efficient incentive-based option for reducing emissions and could be relatively easy to implement. If it was coordinated among major [...]

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