Climate Change and Clean Energy - United States policy on Climate Change and Clean Energy: a Dossier

Journal Articles

Disclaimer: The materials in this section are from sources outside the U.S. Government and should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein or as official U.S. policy.

AMERICA'S BOTTOM-UP CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION POLICY. Nicholas Lutsey, Daniel Sperling, Energy Policy, Feb 2008, pp. 673–685. "Many diverse actions can be taken to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Increasingly in the United States, policy-makers at sub-national levels are setting emission targets and implementing plans for sector-specific GHG reductions. In this paper, local, state, and regional policy actions in the US are inventoried and analyzed as to their potential effect on national emissions. The realization of all existing sub-national initiatives, as of September 2007, could stabilize US emissions at 2010 levels by the year 2020. The scale of these many decentralized mitigation actions, and their tendency to follow consistent steps, provide a counterpoint to oft-cited drawbacks of decentralized environmental policy. It also indicates that the US has been more committed to climate change mitigation than is generally acknowledged." READ MORE.

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DECISIONS ON OZONE DEPLETION AND CLIMATE CHANGE: A FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS. Amy Below, Foreign Policy Analysis, January 2008, pp. 1-20. "The overarching question this paper addresses is whether and, if so, to what extent can existing IR theories commonly associated with high politics decision making be applied to low politics issue areas, specifically international environmental policy. The paper serves to test poliheuristic theory against two case studies, The Montreal Protocol and The Kyoto Protocol, to assess its ability to explain the decision-making processes of four United States presidents. The paper concludes that poliheuristic theory adequately explains the presidents' behavior in virtually all cases." READ MORE.

WHICH WAY TO U.S. CLIMATE COOPERATION? ISSUE LINKAGE VERSUS A U.S. BASED AGREEMENT. Jon Hovi, Tora Skodvin, Review of Policy Research, March 2008 , pp. 129-148. "Several scholars have suggested that the United States can be compelled to reengage in the Kyoto process by linking cooperation on climate change to cooperation on trade or technology research and development. We argue that such issue linkage would likely fail and suggest that a more promising road to U.S. cooperation is to develop an alternative climate agreement based on federal U.S. climate policy. However, the question then becomes whether the Kyoto countries might be prepared to abandon the Kyoto process in favor of such a U.S.-based agreement. We argue that if a U.S.-based agreement were to be built on President Bush's current climate policy, the Kyoto countries (especially the European Union) would likely be reluctant to go along. However, if a U.S.-based agreement were to be built on the many Kyoto-like initiatives now emerging at state and local levels, the Kyoto countries might well be more favorably inclined." READ MORE.

A NEW STRATEGY TO SPUR ENERGY INNOVATION. Peter Ogden, John Podesta and John Deutch. Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 2008, var. pages. "No one questions the need to develop new energy technologies. Government can play a critical role by increasing funding and reorganizing its programs. The United States must confront the reality of its energy circumstances. There is only one solution to the challenge: The United States must begin the long process of transforming its economy from one that is dependent on petroleum and high-emission coal-fired electricity to one that uses energy much more efficiently, develops alternative fuels, and switches to electricity generation that is low-carbon or carbon-free." READ MORE

ENERGY AND DEMOCRACY: THE EUROPEAN'S UNION CHALLENGE. Steve Wood, Current History, March 2008, pp. 133-138. "Europe’s energy requirements could end up compromising a central feature of the EU’s self-understanding and projected image: its role as a committed promoter of democratization and civil freedoms and as an unconditional defender against illiberal political behavior. The EU is not the only entity in global politics to face such a predicament, nor will it be the last. Nonetheless, energy questions will pose an interesting test of the EU’s identity as an international actor defined by its dedication to liberal norms." READ MORE

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE ISN'T VERY GREEN. Steve Stein, Policy Review, April & May 2008, var. pages. "There’s broad agreement that America should reduce its dependence on imported oil, but far less agreement on why. Are we combating global warming, or are we distancing ourselves from hostile and unstable regimes? The popular reply is that it hardly matters — we need to do both and the goals reinforce each other. But these two national energy goals are not only different but frequently in conflict, and effective policy will not be forged until those conflicts are addressed. READ MORE

AIRLINES AND CLIMATE CHANGE: CLIMATE ON THE RUNWAY. Martin Broughton. The World Today, March 2008, pp. 12-13. "A British government consultation on expanding Heathrow Airport is ending just as its new Terminal 5 opens to offer increasing numbers of passengers better facilities. So is the expanding airline industry a villain in the drama of climate change, or a bit-part actor having difficulty making its voice heard and ready for a bigger role?" READ MORE

BRINGING GREEN HOMES WITHIN REACH: HEALTHIER HOUSING FOR MORE PEOPLE. Charles W Schmidt, Environmental Health Perspectives, Jan 2008, pp. 24-33. New green homes jumped in number by 30% between 2005 and 2006 and could include up to 5% of the entire U.S. housing market within five years, predicts McGrawHill Construction, an industry information provider. That makes green homes bright spots in an otherwise dismal housing market facing its worst slump in decades." READ MORE

BUYING GREEN: DOES IT REALLY HELP THE ENVIRONMENT? Jennifer Weeks, The CQ Researcher, Feb. 29, 2008, pp. 193-216. "Americans will spend an estimated $500 billion this year on products and services that claim to be good for the environment because they contain non-toxic ingredients or produce little pollution and waste. While some shoppers buy green to help save the planet, others are concerned about personal health and safety. Whatever their motives, eco-consumers are reshaping U.S. markets. Even if green marketing delivers on its pledges, many environmentalists say that sustainability is not a matter of buying green but of buying less." READ MORE

STATES ON STEROIDS: THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL ODYSSEY OF AMERICAN CLIMATE POLICY. Barry G. Rabe, Review of Policy Research, March 2008, pp. 105-128. "Climate change has conventionally been framed as an issue that would be addressed by an international regime established through negotiation among nation-states. The experience of policy development in the decade following the signing of the Kyoto Protocol indicates that climate change also needs to be examined as a challenge of multilevel governance. The increasingly central role of state governments in American climate policy formation squares with recent experience in other Western democracies that share authority across governmental levels." READ MORE

ARCTIC MELTDOWN. Scott G. Borgerson, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2008, var. pages. "Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict." READ MORE

CAMPUS GREENING BEHIND THE HEADLINES. Ann Rappaport, Environment, Jan/Feb 2008, pp. 7-16. "The 4,200 colleges and universities in the United States have more than 17 million enrolled students,1 many of whom live, learn, eat, and exercise on campuses. Add the global university population, and the resources consumed by educational institutions are staggering. If colleges and universities improve their environmental performance dramatically, and if they have a long-term influence on choices made by graduates in their work, homes, and communities, the collective effect could be vast. Although campus greening has been going on for decades, recent initiatives fueled by concern for global warming have the potential to establish new thinking about infrastructure development, research programs, investment decisions, and learning." READ MORE

HOT TIMES FOR SOLAR ENERGY. Susan Moran, J Thomas McKinnon, World Watch, Mar/Apr 2008, pp. 26-30. "'We're at a crossroads. If we take the solar energy path we become part of the solution, not the problem,' says Gene Kolkran, a former U.S. Bureau of Land Management official who heads the Rural Nevada Conservation Alliance. CSP plants, he says, could be a positive alternative to coal plants in terms of bringing new jobs and a tax base to the area: 'This is also a rural economic development issue.' " READ MORE

MASS TRANSIT BOOM: DO NEW SYSTEMS BOOST RIDERSHIP, RELIEVE CONGESTION? Thomas J. Billitteri, The CQ Researcher, Jan.18, 2008, pp. 49-72. “Pressed by rising gas prices, highway gridlock and global-warming concerns, cities are spending unprecedented amounts on public transit systems — from streetcars and other ‘light-rail’ lines to commuter trains and rapid-transit buses. They also are experimenting with ‘congestion-pricing’ plans that impose tolls on motorists to induce them to use transit or alter driving habits. While traffic congestion is partly behind the transit boom, it is not the only force driving it.” READ MORE

THE SECURITY IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. John Podesta and Peter Ogden, The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2008, pp. 115–138. “Within the next 30 years, climate change is expected to cause destabilizing migration, massive food and water shortages, devastating natural disasters, and deadly disease outbreaks that will present serious security challenges not only to directly affected countries, but to the United States and the entire international community.” READ MORE

WATERWORLD. Robert D. Kaplan, Atlantic Monthly, Jan/Feb 2008, var. pages. “With rising Islamic fundamentalism, weak government, and not enough dry land for its 150 million people, Bangladesh could use a break. Instead, it must face the catastrophic threat of climate change.” READ MORE

A CHANGING CLIMATE: THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE UNITED STATES. Todd Stern and William Antholis, The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2007-08, pp. 175-188. The next U.S. president has a pivotal opportunity to take bold, broad action on climate change. While implementing a serious program at home, the president should pursue a layered diplomacy centered on a core group of major emitters, especially China, and in the UN. READ MORE

A NEW MARKET PARADIGM FOR ZERO-ENERGY HOMES. A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY. Barbara Farhar, Timothy Coburn, Environment, Jan/Feb 2008, pp. 18-30. "In 2001, a luxury home builder launched a San Diego development with highly efficient houses. Results of this de facto market and engineering laboratory suggest a new paradigm for energy efficient homes that seems to stand conventional wisdom on its head. READ MORE

FUTURE OF RECYCLING: IS A ZERO-WASTE SOCIETY ACHIEVABLE? Jennifer Weeks, The CQ Researcher, Dec. 14, 2007, pp. 1033-1060. "Three-quarters of all Americans recycle at home, making recycling one of the nation's most popular environmental activities. Skeptics argue that recycling does little to help the environment and often costs more than burying waste in landfills, but rising energy prices and concerns about climate change are strengthening the supporters' case. Making new goods from scrap metal, glass or paper uses less energy and generates fewer greenhouse gases than extracting and processing virgin materials. Today the U.S. recycles more than 30 percent of its municipal solid waste, and advocates say that figure could be much higher." READ MORE

WAR AND THE ENVIRONMENT. Sarah DeWeerdt, World Watch, Jan/Feb 2008, pp. 14-21. Several recent wars in varied environments and different parts of the world reveal that the ecological consequences of war often remain written in the landscape for many years. Of course, wars are not the only events that leave their signature on the land. "This is essentially true of all impacts on ecosystems," says John Hart, a conservation scientist based in the Democratic Republic of me Congo-floods and hurricanes, for example. "So it really puts conflict into the context of natural history." Still, warfare is not the same as other disturbances that buffet natural ecosystems, and there are reasons to be concerned about the long term ecological effects of war, particularly of the modern variety. READ MORE

OIL JITTERS: ARE THE DAYS OF CHEAP OIL GONE FOREVER? Peter Katel, The CQ Researcher, Jan. 4, 2008, pp. 1-24. "Vastly increased demand for oil in rapidly modernizing China and India, warfare and instability in the Middle East and the weakening U.S. dollar have revived fears of a new energy crisis. Some experts predict an oil 'production crunch' within four to five years that will have severe geopolitical and economic impacts, and one expert says the energy supply-demand gap could create "social chaos and war" by 2020." READ MORE.

ENERGY CHOICES TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. José Goldemberg, Environment, Dec. 2007, pp. 7-18. "Twenty years ago, the Bruntland report took account of the state of the world energy -- its supply and demand, safety and sustainability, and availability to poor and rich countries alike. The report foresaw many of the energy challenges we face today and missed a few crucial ones, but one theme remains consistent: there are no simple solutions." READ MORE

A STRATEGIC VIEW OF ENERGY FUTURES. Mathew Burrows, Gregory F. Treverton, Survival, Autumn 2007, pp. 79-90. "While higher gasoline prices at the pump are a nuisance for consumers, they are only a minor drag on the United States and other rich economies, which are much less energy intensive than they were in the 1970s. This time around, the big strategic issues are not high prices at home but political effects abroad: how will the big winners, like Russia and Iran, use their new leverage? What will need to be done about the losers, like Pakistan and poor African countries-the latter hard hit by the one-two punch of higher energy prices and global warming? " READ MORE.

WHAT RESOURCE WARS? David G. Victor, The National Interest, Nov-Dec 2007, pp. 48-55. "Rising energy prices and mounting concerns about environmental depletion have animated fears that the world may be headed for a spate of 'resource wars'--hot conflicts triggered by a struggle to grab valuable resources. Such fears come in many stripes, but the threat industry has sounded the alarm bells especially loudly in three areas. First is the rise of China, which is poorly endowed with many of the resources it needs--such as oil, gas, timber and most minerals--and has already 'gone out' to the world with the goal of securing what it wants. Violent conflicts may follow as the country shunts others aside. A second potential path down the road to resource wars starts with all the money now flowing into poorly governed but resource-rich countries. Money can fund civil wars and other hostilities, even leaking into the hands of terrorists. And third is global climate change, which could multiply stresses on natural resources and trigger water wars, catalyze the spread of disease or bring about mass migrations." READ MORE

AN INCONVENIENT ASSESSMENT. Chris Mooney. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nov/Dec 2007, pp. 40-47. "Seven years ago, scientists published a pioneering study to help Americans understand the implications of climate change. Here’s why you’ve never heard of it." READ MORE

CHINA NEEDS HELP WITH CLIMATE CHANGE. Kelly Sims Gallagher. Current History, Nov 2007, pp. 389-394. China's contribution to the gases that are warming the world by trapping heat in the atmosphere is a direct result of the country's astonishingly rapid economic growth and rising demand for energy. READ MORE

CLIMATE BUSINESS, BUSINESS CLIMATE: FORETHOUGHT SPECIAL REPORT.
Michael E Porter, Forest L Reinhardt et al. Harvard Business Review, Oct 2007, pp. 22-39. Climate change is now a fact of political life and is playing a growing role in business competition. Greenhouse gas emissions will be increasingly scrutinized, regulated, and priced. While individual managers can disagree about how immediate and significant the impact of climate change will be, companies need to take action now. READ MORE

THE RIPPLE EFFECT: BIOFUELS, FOOD SECURITY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT. Rosamond L. Naylor, Adam J. Liska, et al. Environment, Nov 2007, pp. 30-43. "The rising popularity of crop-based biofuels is causing the global energy and agriculture markets to become increasingly interrelated. As the two industries compete for the same cropland, strained natural resources and the threat of rising prices have implications for the environment and food-insecure people around the world. READ MORE

The Transatlantic Climate Change Challenge. Julianne Smith, Derek Mix. Washington Quarterly, winter 2007. pp. 139-154. The difficulty in forging transatlantic cooperation on Climate Change is that Europe and the United States are addressing it at different speeds and in different ways. READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN A POST-KYOTO WORLD. Bryan K. Mignone , Current History, November 2007, pp. 362-368. "The success of any climate treaty actually depends on the actions of only a relatively small group of nations, perhaps 20 or fewer. On September 28, 2007, four days after United Nations Secretary General Ban Kimoon implored diplomats to 'confront climate change within a global framework . . . that guarantees the highest level of international cooperation,' US President George W. Bush offered a qualified endorsement of this proposition. [...] the White House continues to characterize binding constraints on greenhouse gas emissions as the shortest path between general economic prosperity and self-imposed recession." READ MORE

A NUCLEAR PHOENIX? Jim Motavalli. E : the Environmental Magazine. Jul/Aug 2007, pp. 26-33. "Nuclear advocates will be the first to tell you that their U.S. plants avoid the emission of almost 700 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Worldwide, it's two billion metric tons. Given this reality, some prominent environmentalists have signaled a cautious détente with the nuclear power industry. While stopping short of endorsing the Bush Administration's push for hundreds of new nukes in me U.S., they say that nuclear power merits reconsideration. But they're being met by equally powerful arguments from the scientific community mat nuclear power has never been and never will be a solution to global warming." READ MORE

THINKING ABOUT THE ARCTIC'S FUTURE: SCENARIOS FOR 2040. Lawson W Brigham, The Futurist, Sep/Oct 2007, pp. 27-33. "The Arctic is undergoing an extraordinary transformation early in the twenty-first century -- a transformation that will have global impacts. To evaluate the potential impacts of such rapid changes, this paper turns to the scenario-development process, the creation of plausible futures to enhance a dialogue among a multitude of stakeholders and decision makers. Impacted heavily by global climate change and being viewed by many as a region of vast and now accessible natural resources, there can be little doubt that extraordinary change is coming to the entire region and its people." READ MORE

CLIMATE CHANGE, MASS MIGRATION AND THE MILITARY RESPONSE. Paul J. Smith, Orbis, Fall 2007, pp. 617-633. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that climate change will manifest in dramatic ways-extreme weather events, droughts, heat waves, increased cyclone (hurricane, typhoon) activity, sea level rise, etc.-and some of these effects may induce large scale human migration, both within and among countries. The increasing trend of environmental migrants is clashing with widespread anti-immigrant sentiment in both developed and developing countries around the world. Some countries are describing migration-and particularly unauthorized international migration-as a “security threat” and are turning to military forces to deter or manage the human flows, a trend that is likely to grow. READ MORE

CALIFORNIA'S CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY: RAISING THE BAR. Pamela M Doughman. Environment, September 2007, pp. 35-44. Last year, California's legislature passed one of the most sweeping laws on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, requiring California to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Due to the size of its economy and the amount of GHG emissions it produces, the Golden State's climate change policies have the potential to play an important role in the overall direction of U.S. policies. READ MORE

FULL DISCLOSURE: USING TRANSPARENCY TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE.
Elena Fagotto, Mary Graham. Issues in Science and Technology, Summer 2007, pp. 73-79. An essential first step in any effective climate change policy is to require major contributors to fully disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. Congressional leaders are finally working seriously on long term-approaches to counter climate change. But all the major proposals leave a critical policy gap because they would not take effect for at least five years. Meanwhile, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, and company executives continue to make decisions that lock in the emissions of future power plants, factories, and cars. READ MORE

THE GREAT LEAP BACKWARD? Elizabeth C. Economy, Foreign Affairs, Sep/Oct 2007, var. pages. China's environmental woes are mounting, and the country is fast becoming one of the leading polluters in the world. The situation continues to deteriorate because even when Beijing sets ambitious targets to protect the environment, local officials generally ignore them, preferring to concentrate on further advancing economic growth. Really improving the environment in China will require revolutionary bottom-up political and economic reforms. READ MORE

THINKING GLOBALLY, PLANNING NATIONALLY AND ACTING LOCALLY: NESTED ORGANIZATIONAL FIELDS AND THE ADOPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES. Ion Bogdan Vasi, Social Forces, September 2007, pp. 113-136. The study of the adoption of activities to protect the natural environment has tended to focus on the role of organizational fields. This article advances existing research by simultaneously examining conflicting processes that operate in nested organizational fields at local, national and supra-national levels. It examines the recent spread of an environmental program for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases among local governments in three countries: United States, Canada and Australia. READ MORE

PROVIDING ENERGY SECURITY IN AN INTERDEPENDENT WORLD. Frank Verrastro and Sarah Ladislaw. The Washington Quarterly, Autumn 2007, pp. 95–104. "Focusing on energy independence, although politically attractive, is a misguided quest that can actually distract from the more important objective of managing the transition to a more sustainable and secure energy future in an interdependent world." READ MORE

CARBON OFFSETS 101. Kollmuss, Anja. World Watch Magazine, July/August 2007, pp. 9-14. As public awareness of the driving role carbon emissions play in climate change becomes nearly universal, the pressure to take action is increasing and many firms and individuals who have decided they want to do something about it are purchasing offsets. READ MORE

THE NATIONAL SECURITY DIVIDEND OF GLOBAL CARBON MITIGATION. Mignone, Bryan K. AEI-Brookings Joint Center, June 2007, pp. 1-17. "Energy and environmental security objectives are often conflated in political circles and in the popular press. Greater recognition that investment in carbon mitigation can yield significant security dividends may alter the political cost-benefit calculus of energy-importing nations and could increase the willingness of some key global actors to seek binding cooperative targets under any post-Kyoto climate treaty regime." READ MORE

Bogdonoff, Sondra and Jonathan Rubin. THE REGIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS INITIATIVE: TAKING ACTION IN MAINE. Environment, March 2007, pp. 9-17.

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"As international and domestic pressure builds on the United States to address climate change, much has been made of regional, state, and citywide plans that have arisen to address global warming. Media coverage of one such plan, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced 'Reggie'), has increased as it moves toward implementation in the seven northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that signed the original agreement and as it expands to other states. The first regional mandatory program to address climate change in the United States and encompassing an area that accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total U.S. population, RGGI's efforts will likely have significant impact on other initiatives under way across the United States and in other countries." Sondra Bogdonoff is Director of Development and Planning,
Muskie School Administration, University of Southern Maine. Jonathan Rubin is an environmental and resource economist at the University of Tennessee's Energy, Environment, and Resources Center (EERC).

Ford Runge, C. and Benjamin Senauer. HOW BIOFUELS COULD STARVE THE POOR. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007, var. pages.

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"Thanks to high oil prices and hefty subsidies, corn-based ethanol is now all the rage in the United States. But it takes so much supply to keep ethanol production going that the price of corn -- and those of other food staples -- is shooting up around the world. To stop this trend, and prevent even more people from going hungry, Washington must conserve more and diversify ethanol's production inputs." C. Ford Runge is Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law and Director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy at the University of Minnesota. Benjamin Senauer is Professor of Applied Economics and Co-director of the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota.

Tsafos, Nikos E. BIG OIL AND BIG TALK: RESOURCE POPULISM IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. Sais Review, Winter-Spring 2007, pp. 147-158.

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"Resource populism is a dominant feature of today's energy market: politicians around the world are attacking oil companies with both words and deeds. This battle has caused tension and has amplified business risk, the result being reduced investment in future energy projects. And although there appears to be no end in sight, there is still hope that the trend towards more resource populism is not sustainable in the long term; sooner or later politicians will need to reach out to the oil companies they have made a habit of demonizing." Nikos E. Tsafos is an MA candidate in International Energy Policy at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Easterbrook, Gregg. GLOBAL WARMING: WHO LOSES -- AND WHO WINS? The Atlantic Monthly, April 2007, var. pages.

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"Climate change in the next century (and beyond) could be enormously disruptive, spreading disease and sparking wars. It could also be a windfall for some people, businesses, and nations. A guide to how we all might get along in a warming world." In addition to being the author of various books, Gregg Easterbrook is a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and The Washington Monthly; a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution; and a columnist for ESPN.com.

May, Peter J. and Chris Koski. STATE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES: ANALYZING GREEN BUILDING MANDATES. Review of Policy Research, January 2007, pp. 49–65.

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"This research addresses state requirements that public facilities be constructed as 'green buildings' that promote environmental friendly, energy efficient, and healthy workplaces. We consider state choices to adopt green building mandates and the form of their policy enactment. In considering the way that low salience issues like green buildings get on state agendas and the circumstances under which governors decide to engage the issue, we extend William Gormley's (1986) depiction of 'board room' regulatory politics. State energy agencies provide an attention-focusing role while governors behave strategically in deciding whether to issue executive orders about green buildings. This research adds to the growing understanding of states as innovators in aspects of environmental policy not normally subject to state regulation." Peter J. May is professor of political science at the University of Washington where he is also affiliated with the Center for American Politics and Public Policy and the Evans School of Public Affairs together with Chris Koski.

Bisk, Tsvi. THE ENERGY PROJECT: INDEPENDENCE BY 2020. Futurist, Jan/Feb2007, pp. 25-34.

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"The article focuses on the need for countries, particularly the United States, to formulate a coherent energy policy dedicated to downgrading oil as the dominant international commodity. According to the author, this action would contribute greatly to the health of the shared environment as well as international stability once oil becomes a commodity on the level of coffee or sugar rather than the lifeblood of Western economies. A global effort on the part of industrialized nations to transition their economies to next-generation fuels and vehicles is encouraged." Bisk is an independent Israeli futurist, social researcher, and strategy planning consultant. He is the director of the Center for Strategic Futurist Thinking.

Selin, Henrik and Stacy D. VanDeveer. POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PREDICTION: WHAT'S NEXT FOR U.S. CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY? Review of Policy Research, January 2007, pp. 1-27.

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"This article analyzes how U.S. climate change politics and policy making are changing in the public, private and civil society sectors, and how such changes are likely to influence U.S. federal policies. It outlines the current status of U.S. climate change action and explores four overlapping pathways of policy change: (1) the strategic demonstration of the feasibility of climate change action; (2) the creation and expansion of markets; (3) policy diffusion and learning; and (4) the creation and promulgation of norms about the need for more aggressive climate change action. These four pathways seek to fruitfully draw from rationalist and constructivist approaches to policy analysis, without collapsing or confusing the different logics. Building on this analysis, it predicts that future federal U.S. climate policy will include six major components: (1) A national cap on GHG emissions; (2) A national market based cap-and-trade GHG emissions trading scheme; (3) Mandatory renewable energy portfolio standards; (4) Increased national product standards for energy efficiency; (5) Increased vehicle fleet energy efficiency standards; and (6) Increased federal incentives for research and development on energy efficiency issues and renewable energy development. In addition, expanding federal climate policy may bring about significant changes in U.S. foreign policy as U.S. international re-engagement on climate change is likely to occur only after the development of more significant federal policy." Henrik Selin is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Boston University, where he conducts research and teaches classes on global and regional politics and policy making on environment and sustainable development. Stacy D. VanDeveer is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire and a 2006–2007 Visiting Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

Carbaugh, Robert; Wassell, Charles Jr. REDUCING AMERICAN DEPENDENCE ON OIL. Challenge, November/December 2006. pp. 55-77.

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The authors say no single policy will “solve” the U.S. oil dependence problem. They examine the pros and cons of several widely discussed solutions such as rationing coupons (both non-transferable and tradable), increased gasoline taxes, higher fuel-economy requirements, higher prices, and alternative fuels. On the demand side, they note, the policy choices create a tension between speeding up reduction in consumption and a policy-induced inefficiency or inequity. And, from the supply side, there is a trade-off between environmental concerns that would accompany increased domestic production and other oil-related external costs. Policymakers will inevitably have to choose the “lesser of two evils”, they conclude. Consequently, it is essential that a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis –- including the option of a “no-action” alternative -– be conducted prior to implementing any policy options. The authors are both economics professors at Central Washington University.

Anonymous. THE GREENING OF AMERICA: CLIMATE CHANGE. The Economist, Jan 27, 2007, var. pages.

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“A country with a presidential system tends to get identified with its leader. So, for the rest of the world, America is George Bush's America right now. But to simplify thus is to misunderstand--especially in the case of huge, federal America. One of its great strengths is the diversity of its political, economic and cultural life. While the White House dug its heels in on global warming, much of the rest of the country was moving. It's the weather, appropriately, that has turned public opinion--starting with Hurricane Katrina. Scientists had been warning Americans for years that the risk of "extreme weather events" would probably increase as a result of climate change. But scientific papers do not drive messages home as convincingly as the destruction of a city. And the heatwave that torched America's west coast last year, accompanied by a constant drip of new research on melting glaciers and dying polar bears, has only strengthened the belief that something must be done. Business is changing its mind too. Five years ago corporate America was solidly against carbon controls. But the threat of a patchwork of state regulations, combined with the opportunity to profit from new technologies, began to shift business attitudes. And that movement has gained momentum, because companies that saw their competitors espouse carbon controls began to fear that, once the government got down to designing regulations, they would be left out of the discussion if they did not jump on the bandwagon. So now the loudest voices are not resisting change but arguing for it.”

Wald, Matthew L. IS ETHANOL FOR THE LONG HAUL? Scientific American, January 2007, pp. 42-49.

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"The article focuses on ethanol, an alternative fuel source. The author looks at how ethanol production is often more environmentally harmful than the use of crude oil. The author also addresses the burn length of the fuel. At the same time, the question of mass production is addressed. It is suggested that without a shift to cellulose production, there would only be enough ethanol for a small portion of fuel consumers in the United States." Matthew L. Wald is a reporter at the New York Times, where he has covered energy topics since 1979. He has written about oil refining, electricity production, electric and hybrid automobiles, and air pollution.

Weissman, Andrew. PLAYING WITH FIRE – THE 10 TCF/YEAR SUPPLY GAP – PART I, Energypulse.net, posted December 15, 2006.

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In the first of a four-part series on the natural gas supply risks facing the U.S., the author, editor-in-chief and publisher of energybusinesswatch.com, warns that the U.S. will be facing an unprecedented shortfall of natural gas within the next decade. He notes that North America is running short of natural gas, with older and larger gas fields becoming depleted, and new discoveries being much smaller in size and experiencing very fast rates of depletion. Despite an exploration boom – almost a quarter of a million new gas wells have been drilled in the U.S. and Canada since 2000 – supply has not increased. He partly lays the blame for the lack of a sense of urgency in addressing this impending crisis on inaccurate or highly speculative forecasts by the Energy Information Administration and some private forecasting firms, which have underestimated by far the amount of natural gas needed to run the U.S. economy. He urges the development within the coming year of a comprehensive national strategy to reduce U.S. dependence upon natural gas for electricity generation. He notes that past price spikes have already driven the most price-sensitive natural gas users out of the U.S. market, and that if an alternative strategy is not implemented soon, the price increases needed to match supply with demand by 2020 could be “brutal ... potentially resulting in the permanent shutdown of a significant portion of the manufacturing sector in the U.S.”

Moran, Susan. COAL RUSH! World Watch, Jan/Feb 2007, pp. 8-13.

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"Of the 2004 U.S. total emissions of 5.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), electric power generation contributed 2.3 billion metric tons, or 39 percent, and coal-fired plants accounted for 82 percent of that. With the specter of climate change looming ever larger in the public consciousness, utilities are anticipating that the time will soon come when legislators will slap a limit on carbon emissions from electric power generators and perhaps other industrial sources, and that the more coal-fired capacity the producers build before that day of reckoning, the higher their share of the total cap will be. Ultimately, many scientists, economists, environmentalists, legislators, and a growing number of utility executives agree that a multi-pronged approach-technology, carbon markets, and public policy-will be necessary to attack global warming." Susan Moran is a freelance journalist based in Boulder, Colorado

Sterner, Thomas, Max Troell, et al. QUICK FIXES FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: PART OF THE SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM? Environment, December 2006, pp. 20-28.

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"By failing to address root causes, policy responses that treat the symptoms of environmental problems can undermine sustainability by increasing the probability of future environmental disasters, the damage caused by those disasters, or both. To deal with these problems, instrument design must lake care to mitigate distributional effects by differentiating taxes, refunding tax revenues, or giving away resource rents to the polluters (or other influential groups) to buy acceptance.21 An example is free allocation of the initial set of tradable pollution permits. The ubiquity of this problem explains the advantages of lifetime judges in independent courts,23 constitutions that require qualified majorities, and parliaments that relinquish control over monetary policy to experts in central banks." Thomas Sterner is a professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Max Troell, an associate professor at the Beijer Institute.

Andrews, Richard N. LEARNING FROM HISTORY: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS, POLICIES, AND THE COMMON GOOD. Environment, November 2006, pp. 28-44.

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"The United States has long been one of the most important actors in global environmental politics, letting its power and influence be known through its abstentions from global environmental efforts as well as as its support. The history of U.S. domestic and international politics holds important lessons for the future of environmental policy." Richard N. L. Andrews is the Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill.

Price, Tom. THE NEW ENVIRONMENTALISM: CAN NEW BUSINESS POLICIES SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT? The CQ Researcher, Dec. 1, 2006, pp. 985-1008.

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"Concern about the environment is intensifying, but new efforts to reduce pollution and save energy differ from past environmental movements. Unable to get much satisfaction from the Republican-dominated federal government, environmental activists have set their sights on businesses — trying to influence corporate behavior and even forming partnerships with companies to confront environmental challenges. A growing number of businesses — including Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer — are concluding that saving the environment is good for the bottom line. But some conservative critics charge that such actions actually dilute companies' primary purpose — to increase shareholder value. Meanwhile, in the absence of federal action, state and local governments are instituting policies aimed at weaning industry from fossil fuels. And some environmentalists are even rethinking nuclear power." Tom Price is an editor at the CQ Researcher.

Dolan, Edwin G. SCIENCE, PUBLIC POLICY, AND GLOBAL WARMING: RETHINKING THE MARKET-LIBERAL POSITION. Cato Journal, Fall 2006, pp. 445-468.

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"In this article, the author takes a contrarian position, not so much with respect to the science of climate change as with respect to the arguments used by market liberals in support of their message of comfort and complacency. One problem area concerns the proper use of scientific evidence in reaching conclusions regarding public policy. A second problem concerns the use of cost-benefit analysis. Third, the literature on global warming is often weakly rooted, if rooted at all, in the core principles of classical liberalism from which modern market liberalism has evolved. Market liberals should keep arguments based on comparisons of costs and benefits in proper perspective. The market-liberal position should be distinct from a conservative position that defends unjustly acquired privileges. Market liberals should keep a clear head when it comes to the relationship between science and public policy." Edwin G. Dolan teaches economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, Riga, and the University of Economics, Prague.

Golub, Alexander et al. DOES THE KYOTO PROTOCOL COST TOO MUCH AND CREATE UNBREAKABLE BARRIERS FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH? Contemporary Economic Policy, October 2006, pp. 520-535.

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"We look to the literature on short-term cost models, long-term models based on endogenous growth, and long-term models that assume induced technical change, in order to demonstrate the current understanding of costs, which is the focus of the debate on abating climate change. Using these insights as well as other results-like the role of ancillary benefits and the lack of a relationship between decarbonization and economic growth-our contribution to this debate will be to help policy makers understand how economic analyses are conducted and how they should be used in the subsequent political discussions." Alexander Golub is Senior Economist, Environmental Defense, Washington, DC.

Bettelheim, Adriel. BIOFUELS BOOM: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: CAN ETHANOL SATISFY AMERICA'S THIRST FOR FOREIGN OIL? The CQ Researcher, Sep. 29, 2006, pp. 793-816.

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"Energy companies across the Midwest are building new plants to convert locally grown corn into ethanol. The construction spurt is the most visible evidence of expanded interest in renewable fuels, which politicians increasingly believe can begin to wean America from its voracious appetite for foreign oil. Ethanol, the only renewable fuel being produced in the United States in any significant quantity, is being aggressively promoted as a key ingredient in the quest for energy security. But before competing head-to-head with gasoline, it will have to overcome major hurdles. Not only is it more expensive to produce, but some studies say it takes more energy to process corn into ethanol than the fuel delivers. Experts believe a more viable long-term ethanol source could be switchgrass or other so-called cellulosic biomass. The current biofuels boom also bodes well for other renewables, including biodiesel, which has achieved popularity in Europe." Adriel Bettelheim is an editor at the CQ Researcher.

Hansen, James et al. GLOBAL TEMPERATURE CHANGE. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science, September 26, 2006, pp. 14288-14293.

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"A new study by NASA climatologists finds that the world's temperature is reaching a level that has not been seen in thousands of years. The study appears in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, authored by James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, N.Y. and colleagues from Columbia University, Sigma Space Partners, Inc., and the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). The study concludes that, because of a rapid warming trend over the past 30 years, the Earth is now reaching and passing through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period, which has lasted nearly 12,000 years. This warming is forcing a migration of plant and animal species toward the poles."

Martinot, Eric. RENEWABLE ENERGY GAINS MOMENTUM. Environment, July/August 2006, pp. 26-43.

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"Use of renewable energy avoided the release of an estimated 0.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2004 and displaced about 3 percent of global power generation that would otherwise come from fossil fuels.1 However, environmental impact is only part of the picture. The results include acid rain, water and soil acidification, forest die-off, increases in human respiratory diseases and health costs, and loss of agricultural productivity." Eric Martinot is currently a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is also a research fellow with the Worldwatch Institute.

Stein, Steve. BREAKING THE OIL HABIT. Policy Review, August/September 2006, var. pages.

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"When he told Congress last winter that the the United States is 'addicted to oil,' George W. Bush joined every president since Richard Nixon in calling for some measure of energy independence. But Bush’s goals were more modest than his predecessors’. The centerpiece of his energy statement was a proposal to eliminate 75 percent of our Middle East oil imports by 2020. Since even today our imports from that region are less than a fifth of the total — our three largest suppliers are Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela — that would require minor adjustments. However, Bush’s modesty may be warranted. In 1973, when Richard Nixon first called for energy independence, the United States imported about 25 percent of its annual oil needs; now it imports over 60 percent. Oil and gas imports now account for over $200 billion of the current trade deficit. Nevertheless, it’s questionable whether energy independence has ever really been a national goal; it isn’t even clear what the term is supposed to mean." Steve Stein, a writer and financial adviser in Marin County, California, covers contemporary political economics.

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