Read & Watch

Climate watch: It’s not the Green New Deal or nothing at all

By Dick Jones Our public discourse encourages us to believe that we live in a world of stark binary choices. Red state-blue state, liberal-conservative, capitalist-socialist. Nuance is so 20th century. That’s the case with the attention given to the Green New Deal, the plan championed by New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts senator Ed Markey. While its centerpiece is a stimulus program with incentives to move the United States to 100% renewable energy by 2030, the Green New Deal also contains an “economic bill of rights”… Read More »Climate watch: It’s not the Green New Deal or nothing at all

Book Review: Behind the Curve

Here is the latest in Mark Neely’s series of reviews of books on climate change. Review of Joshua P. Howe, Behind the Curve: Science and the Politics of Global Warming (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014)This review has benefited from discussion with Carl Evensen, Milton Cole, and Sylvia Neely. Historian Joshua P. Howe offers readers an able narrative of the development of climate change issues in American politics and government from the Cold War to 2014, by which time, he argues, the issue had moved… Read More »Book Review: Behind the Curve

Earth Day Op Ed

By Dick Jones This Earth Day, lawmakers should support an end to ‘socialized soot’ When former South Carolina Republican Congressman Bob Inglis was in State College in February to speak at Penn State’s “Sustainability Showcase,” he called for an end to “socialized soot.” The fossil-fuel industry gets a free pass on the health, environmental and national defense costs of its products. While profits are safely privatized, many of the industry’s costs are socialized — borne by society at large. Inglis, who for 12 years represented… Read More »Earth Day Op Ed

Penn State Professors Talk Climate Change in Joint Lecture

On Sunday afternoon at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Penn State Professors, Dr. Joel Landry and Dr. Seth Blumsack, delivered their joint lecture, “Climate Change: The Cost of Doing Nothing.” Both professors emphasized that change needs to start with individuals no matter the policy choices made at state and federal levels throughout their presentations. “We are all going to have to engage in fairly large-scale adaptation,” Blumsack said. “We ought to be thinking about things like our transportation systems and our buildings because the amount of cooperation… Read More »Penn State Professors Talk Climate Change in Joint Lecture

Citizens’ Climate Lobby Hosts “The Benefits of Doing Something …” Lecture

On Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m., Penn State professors Dr. Joel Landry and Dr. Seth Blumsack will present their lecture: “Climate Change: The Cost of Doing Nothing” at St. Andrews Episcopal Church downtown. This event will be sponsored by the State College chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). The two professors will discuss the economic impacts of climate change. Blumsack’s and Landry’s research and teachings have centered around energy, electric power systems, electricity markets, regulatory economic policies, climate change policies, and energy and transportation… Read More »Citizens’ Climate Lobby Hosts “The Benefits of Doing Something …” Lecture