Articles

Mark Neely’s Review of Klimat by Thane Gustafson

Thane Gustafson, Klimat:  Russia in the Age of Climate Change (Cambridge:  Harvard University Press, 2021).  321 pages.  Maps.      If you are travelling to Russia anytime soon (and I realize that you most likely are not), do not expect to see houses with solar panels on their roofs in the cities or electric cars on the roads.  Russia has very few of either.  Most people live in apartment blocks and there are few intercity roads for cars or trucks to travel on.  Trains are standard… Read More »Mark Neely’s Review of Klimat by Thane Gustafson

Review of Unruly Waters by Sunil Amrith

A review of Sunil Amrith, Unruly Waters:  How Mountain Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s History (New York:  Penguin, 2020), 397 pp., maps, photos.      This sweeping history of India from the nineteenth century to the present focuses necessarily on agriculture, climate, and engineering.  Unlike the United States, where agriculture has not been dominant for a century, agriculture “employs 60 percent of India’s population,” and India’s “population will continue to be predominantly rural by the mid-twenty-first century” (p. 14).  Therefore, climate matters less in… Read More »Review of Unruly Waters by Sunil Amrith

Review of Fire and Flood

A Review of Eugene Linden, Fire and Flood:  A People’s History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present (New York:  Penguin Press, 2022)      Eugene Linden’s Fire and Flood is a history of the problem of climate change over the last forty-odd years– must reading for members of CCL.  Linden captures the essence of developments decade by decade, the eighties, the nineties, and so forth, from four standpoints:  the reality of climate changes in the period, the scientists’ increasing understanding of them, public opinion… Read More »Review of Fire and Flood

Review of Vaclav Smil book by Mark Neely

Vaclav Smil, How the World Really Works:  A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future (New York:  Viking, 2022), 326 pp.     Vaclav Smil, a member of the geography department at the University of Manitoba, in this well organized and clearly written book, argues that globalization and what he calls “the four material pillars of modern civilization,” plastics, steel, concrete, and ammonia, are central to understanding the problem of climate change.  The problem, simply put, is that all of them are carbon intensive.     … Read More »Review of Vaclav Smil book by Mark Neely

Letter: Senator Casey should back Carbon fee

By Richard W. Jones Bloomberg News reported Sept. 3 that the Senate Finance Committee is seriously considering putting a $15 per ton price on carbon in the budget reconciliation package. This fee would be paired with a rebate for low-income taxpayers and a border-adjustment tax to ensure that foreign companies can’t take advantage. This is encouraging news. President Joe Biden has set a 50 percent reduction goal for carbon emissions by 2030. Read more at Lock Haven Express

Decision Time: Will Senate Go Big or Small on Climate Change?

While the media spotlight is elsewhere, the U.S. Senate this summer is seriously negotiating climate change legislation. Senate Democrats have signaled that they are focused on climate change. They plan to address the issue in this year’s budget reconciliation. This is potentially good news for those who have argued for a price on carbon. That’s because consideration of a carbon price meets the strict parliamentary requirements of budget reconciliation. The reconciliation is not subject to the filibuster, meaning that it can be passed with 51… Read More »Decision Time: Will Senate Go Big or Small on Climate Change?

Time for Carbon Fee is Now

We didn’t see that coming. Extreme drought in the west. Extreme wildfires out west. Flooding in the southeast. More and stronger hurricanes. More tornadoes. Dangerous heat in the west. The drying of the Great Salt Lake. Possibly a high-rise condo on a barrier island collapsing. Rivers flooding in Europe. These are occurring due in part to misinformation campaigns by the oil industry and by climate change-deniers on social media. We can’t solve this crisis by recycling more, eating less red meat, planting trees and driving… Read More »Time for Carbon Fee is Now

Climate Watch: How agriculture and climate change are connected, and why it matters

BY SYLVIA NEELY This OpEd appeared in the Centre Daily Times on JULY 11, 2021 Agriculture faces serious problems in a warming world. California, according to one recent article, “supplies two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of America’s vegetables.” The Central Valley’s bounty is made possible by water from the north flowing down rivers and irrigation streams. When rain and snow are not abundant, as has been the case recently, farmers rely on water from underground aquifers. Unfortunately, that… Read More »Climate Watch: How agriculture and climate change are connected, and why it matters

Endorsing EICD Act

This photo originally appeared in the Centre County Gazette, June 17th-23rd edition.

Price on Carbon Must Be Part of This Year’s Climate Legislation

Our nation’s lawmakers are currently working on a package of spending measures and policies aimed at transforming America’s infrastructure and tackling climate change. During an Earth Day summit with world leaders, President Biden committed the U.S. to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 52 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. To achieve that goal, Biden has proposed spending hundreds of billions of dollars on electric vehicle charging stations, incentives for consumers to purchase EVs, retrofitting homes and businesses to be more energy efficient, and… Read More »Price on Carbon Must Be Part of This Year’s Climate Legislation