How much would carbon emissions increase if Kyoto expired?

Last post I said that maybe we should just let the Kyoto Protocol die.  If Kyoto was a good agreement to start off with, I think it should be maintained.  But it isn’t.  If Kyoto is likely to lead to a substantive agreement, I think it should be maintained.  But it doesn’t seem to be.  … Continue reading →

Maybe we should just let the Kyoto Protocol die…

The Kyoto Protocol has been on life support since 2001.  And the fear of having to build governance in a world without it has made us keep it going for another 8 years.  But it wasn’t that good of an agreement in the first place, it obviously is a failure at this point, and it … Continue reading →

If you aren’t part of the solution, then you are the United States

James Traub recently posted a piece to Foreign Policy which argues that even though the U.S. emissions have been decreasing, U.S. climate policy is largely a failure by being too weak in trying to build an effective climate organization.  Traub writes: “the real failure of U.S. policy has been, first, that it is still much … Continue reading →

Ambition Gap: Important issue or side-show at the Doha Conference?

In fact, I consider ambition to be so light and airy that it’s only the shadow of a shadow. -Rosencrantz from Hamlet Some phrases seem to come out of nowhere and then  become absolutely prominent in discussions.  And one such phrase is the “ambition gap” at the Doha Climate conference.  The idea became important at … Continue reading →

I will not become a pessimist about climate negotiations, I will not become a pessimist about climate negotiations, I will not become…

I typed it out 100 times today.  I will not become pessimistic about climate negotiations.  They might accomplish little, they might fail, but I still don’t believe it was a tragic situation.  We can still solve this problem. I will neither get depressed nor get my fiddle while Rome burns. Nope, I’m just going to … Continue reading →

What will be the legacy of Doha?

When we look back at this era of global politics, what will be the legacy of Doha?  It is an important question when we consider the places which have become synonymous with international conferences: Yalta and Potsdam as sites for the development of the post-World War II agenda, Stockholm and Rio as key sites for … Continue reading →

Climate Coalitions: The clock is ticking on their effectiveness

The United Nations Environment Program released its 2012 emissions gap report a few days ago.  The question for the report was basic: if we want to keep warming under 2 degrees Celsius, how are we doing at cutting emissions? The answer: Not so well and if we keep doing what we are doing, then we … Continue reading →

Do we want to learn from disasters? Reflections on Hurricane Sandy and Climate Change

Chris Mooney is one of the better writers about climate change and public perception out there.  His response to Sandy was clear: We’d been warned, we didn’t learn, will Sandy be the start of learning.  To quote from his article: So, yes, we knew. We knew well ahead of time that this could happen, and … Continue reading →

Is International Climate Change Gridlock a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

“The parable tells us that public definitions of a situation (prophecies or predictions) become an integral part of the situation and thus affect  subsequent developments.  This is particular to human affairs.  It is not found in the world of nature.  Predictions of of the return of Halley’s comet do not influence its orbit.  But the … Continue reading →

Photo 7- The June U.S. Heatwave Was Not an Average Heatwave

A very simple map capturing the heatwave that was prominent in the United States over the past few weeks.  Remember ‘red’ denotes hotter temperatures than average, not some idea of ‘hot’.  So, the fact that Colorado is engulfed in red is not simply saying that Colorado was ‘hot’ in June, but that it was significantly … Continue reading →