Energy, Climate and the 2020 Election
Is 100% Renewable Energy “Impractical”?
Editor's Note: In this blog, Dr. Charles Kutscher, a member of PCAP's National Advisory Committee, rebuts the argument that 100% renewable energy is not practical. Dr. Kutscher is a Fellow and Senior Research Associate of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Vote on the Green New Deal? Game on!
By William S. Becker Some of the Republican Party’s leaders say they love the Green New Deal – not because of its merits, but because they think it will keep Democrats from taking control of Congress and the White House
Getting Started on the Green New Deal
Second of two parts. By William S. Becker Now that we have seen the outline of a Green New Deal for America – the House resolution unveiled by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey last week – the predictable reactions are
Will the Green New Deal Flourish or Falter?
The first of two parts By William S. Becker As a cancer survivor, I learned some time ago that the longer we ignore the symptoms, the more aggressive the treatment has to be. That lesson came to mind last week
What will it take to decarbonize on time?
By William S. Becker Several committees in the new House of Representatives have put climate disruption on their agendas -- a long overdue departure from silence, snowballs and stupidity when deniers are in control of Congress. If the committees discuss
The Green New Deal is Bigger Than We Think
By William S. Becker The political question of the day – and perhaps the question of our time – is about the Green New Deal. It sounds nice. Polling shows that a huge majority, more than 80%, of voters like
Our Refugee Crisis at Home
By William S. Becker It was sometime during the cusp between the 1970s and 1980s – I don’t remember the exact date – that I stood on a sidewalk in a small Wisconsin village watching a historic event unfold across
Americans waking up to climate
Democrats are moving forward on their promise to make global climate change one of their top issues now that they control the House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has created a House Standing Committee on the Climate Crisis chaired
What’s New?
Legal Paths to Decarbonization
The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) at Columbia University is about to publish more than 1,000 specific recommendations for the municipal, state and federal laws necessary for the United States to decarbonize its economy and achieve the goals of the Paris Climate accord. More than 60 experts contributed to the book, titled “Legal Pathways to Decarbonization in the United States”. The editors are Michael Gerrard, Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at the Columbia Law School, and John C. Dernbach, Distinguished Professor of Law at the Widener University Law School. The complete book is 1,100 pages. A shorter version can be downloaded here at no cost.
The Green New Deal
The Green New Deal is a proposal to make a rapid and comprehensive transition to a decarbonized economy, principally by shifting to 100% renewable power generation. Green groups have promoted the idea for some time, but one version is contained in a proposal by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat Socialist from New York who was elected to Congress last November.
12 Years and Counting
Two reports issued last fall shook up the assumption that holding global warming to no more than 2oC above pre-industrial levels would be sufficient to avert catastrophic climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the much safer goal is 1.5oC.
Climate Change is in the House
Now that the 116th Congress is underway, it appears that climate change will get more attention than it has in recent years. In addition to the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone, is adding climate change to the focus of one of his subcommittees. Pallone also promised to make climate change the topic of the committee’s first hearing.
Climate & Energy
New developments in climate science and the transition to clean energy.
Commentary
Latest news along with blogs by PCAP’s Bill Becker and other prominent commentators.
Kindred Groups & Resources
Other groups working on climate change and the clean energy transition, regardless of political affiliations, along with resources climate activists can use.
PCAP Archive
The most important of PCAP’s previous reports and studies.
“As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.”
“We have, I hope, finally put to rest the false choice between the economy and the environment, for we have the strongest economy perhaps in our history, with a cleaner environment.”
“The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water?”
“I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing.”
“Laws change; people die; the land remains.”