US Energy Policy: Good Is Not Good Enough

Here are a few articles related to the current legislation in the US Senate right now:

A Real Bill for the Climate: Here’s a quick one that explains the situation in congress right now with the current energy bill and why it should be more of a climate bill than an energy bill.

CO2 Cartoon
David G. Klein, NYTimes

A Missed Opportunity on Climate Change: This is  great article on how President Obama’s stance on climate change has slipped some since before he was elected. It also does a great job of explaining why the bill headed his way will be completely unsatisfactory from an economic point of view – why a poorly written carbon cap-and-trade system may cost you more money instead of save you money like it should.

Just do It: “Yes, this bill’s goal of reducing U.S. carbon emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 is nowhere near what science tells us we need to mitigate climate change” says Thomas L. Friedman, the author of Hot, Flat, and Crowded and The World is Flat. “More important, my gut tells me that if the U.S. government puts a price on carbon, even a weak one, it will usher in a new mind-set among consumers, investors, farmers, innovators and entrepreneurs that in time will make a big difference — much like the first warnings that cigarettes could cause cancer. The morning after that warning no one ever looked at smoking the same again.”