Green Options

A few weeks ago Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) called for a new energy solution. A solution that came in the form of 100 new nuclear power plants. That vision has not left the republicans’ eyes. And on Tuesday, Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) added his two cents.

Am I the only one who noticed that Sarah Palin has pulled a huge switchover when it comes to her take on energy policy?

Because it’s dramatic, and may presage the switch that I have been hoping for for a while: the divorce of the idea that a Conservative Environmentalist in politics is an oxymoron.

The Waxman-Markey bill that recently was introduced into the House has already caused quit a stir, and that was before someone found a provision tucked in it’s 600 plus pages that would make it legal to sue the Government if you suffer from Global Warming.

The longer I am here at the Wall Street Green Trading Summit, the less this feels like anything to do with environmentalism. At some point, when does off-setting stop being feasible, and when does carbon reduction become the name of the game?

If you missed this profile of the physicist Freeman Dyson in the New York Times, check it out now. Dyson, I would say, is the most highly respected scientist to publicly come out against Global Warming.

His point? There really isn’t a lot of proof of Global Warming beyond a series of simulations and models. If you don’t buy there prognosticating power, your left considering the fact that we don’t know, for sure, the exact ratio between temperature [...]

The League of Conservation Voters has initiated a campaign telling Republican congressional leaders that they need to chose between following Schwarzenegger and other environmentally-aware Republicans or follow Rush Limbaugh.

After years of railing against special interests, I find myself presented with a quandary. Special interests are lining up behind the Smart Grid technology I love and, in doing so, risk saddling this cool program with the baggage intrinsic to special interests.

Fox News reports that President Obama’s plan to create green jobs will just be money down the drain.

To combat California’s third consecutive year of drought, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today declared a state of emergency and ordered immediate action to manage the crisis. But the governor fell short of instituting mandatory water rationing - at least for now.

In response to President Barack Obama’s address to congress last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal roundly criticized the President’s stimulus package and path forward.

Yesterday I posted here about plastic bag fees and bans being frozen in — or before reaching — legislatures. Supposedly that’s due to economics, though reality seems to be more connected to politics. That, coupled with a post here by Low Impact Living about the green benefits of the stimulus plan signed by President Obama recently, got me thinking about a potential solution to our financial woes.

Maybe we don’t need to argue along partisan lines about small versus big government, or about a trillion-dollar stimulus plan versus whatever it is the Republicans think President Obama should be doing. Maybe instead of tax credits and billionaire bailouts, we need to impose a fresh idea of corporate social responsbility: cost-of-living increases + merit salary increases.