Overview for climate-change

Best of FF: Confessions of a Climate Change Convert

As 2011 comes to a close, Frum Forum plans to re-run some of our best featured pieces from the year. D.R. Tucker wrote an especially provocative piece about how he changed his position on climate change and global warming. I was defeated by facts. It wasn’t all that long ago when …

Written by D.R. Tucker on Thursday December 29, 2011

Talking With the Left About Climate Change

Two Frum Forum posts I wrote recently about climate politics — " How the GOP Should Explain Climate Change " and " Newt, Your Ad With Pelosi Wasn't Dumb " — netted me an appearance on "The Green Front," a program of the Progressive Radio Network. This was thanks to fellow F F contributor D.R. …

Written by Kenneth Silber on Wednesday December 21, 2011

Don't Expect Results at a Climate Conference

Another biennial international climate negotiation jamboree wraps up today. What does the world have to show for it? Durban shouldn't turn out to be the belly flop that Copenhagen was in 2009. Other than that, not much. See you in two years and all that. Even a few greens are wondering if …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday December 9, 2011

How the GOP Should Explain Climate Change

The GOP nomination race has proven to be a hostile environment for concerns about, or even an acceptance of the reality of, anthropogenic global warming. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have made statements that they don’t know what’s causing climate change, in contradiction of earlier …

Written by Kenneth Silber on Wednesday December 7, 2011

Newt, Your Ad With Pelosi Wasn't Dumb

Newt Gingrich recently described his 2008 appearance in a 30-second ad with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “ the dumbest single thing I’ve done. ” Many conservatives share a negative view of it. Ron Paul, for instance, cites the ad as an example of Newt’s “serial hypocrisy.” Curious, I took a …

Written by Kenneth Silber on Monday December 5, 2011

Why We Should Still be Sweating Global Warming

Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and writer about energy, has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal stating “ Five Truths About Climate Change .” Some of his assertions are to the effect that there’s not that much that can be done to restrain carbon emissions. That’s a …

Written by Kenneth Silber on Thursday October 6, 2011

Don't Have Delusions About Green Jobs

The human mind has trouble envisioning change. The first automobiles were built as horseless carriages. We will send e-mail even as our children no longer remember what "the mail" ever was. So likewise, when we imagine a world evolving beyond fossil fuels, we imagine a world of cars powered by …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 15, 2011

What Exactly is a "Green" Job? (Updated)

Here's a skill-testing hypothetical for you environmentalists out there. Some future US government decides to impose a tax on oil to maintain the price above $125 a barrel. Responding to this price signal, more Americans tell their real estate agents they want housing from which they can walk …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 15, 2011

If it's Perry: Anti-Science Label Sticks

If Rick Perry is the nominee, we will hear stepped-up criticism that there is a Republican “ war on science ,” that the GOP is anti-intellectual and antipathetic to facts and analysis. Such criticism will resonate with many voters, precisely because Perry’s nomination will be evidence that it’s …

Written by Kenneth Silber on Tuesday September 6, 2011

Call These Scientists Crazy

On August 18, a few days after Rick Perry went off on climate scientists as money-grubbing carbon cultists, Jon Huntsman had some craziness of his own to share. "To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy," the presidential candidate and former Utah …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday August 19, 2011

Limbaugh Loses a Listener

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Written by FrumForum Editors on Wednesday August 10, 2011

GOP Climate Stance Could Have Been Different

Citing an essay by D.R. Tucker , Peter Sinclair asks : What if American conservatives had followed their British counterparts and not allowed partisan animus against Al Gore to distract them from the scientific evidence on climate change? Imagine if Reagan had delivered speeches similar to …

Written by FrumForum Editors on Thursday August 4, 2011

Humans Are Making it Hotter

Partisanship in Washington has been extreme lately. So has the weather. Might there be a connection? It certainly looks that way. Let’s talk about heat. As anyone living in Washington—or in about three-fourths of the nation for that matter—has surely noticed, this summer has been unusually hot. …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Tuesday August 2, 2011

D'Amboise's Change of Mind on Changing Climate

img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-99133" title="Scott D'Amboise (2)" src="/files/wxrimport/2011-07/scott-damboise-21.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="280" /> In a debate with opponent Michael Michaud during his 2006 campaign to represent Maine’s 2nd District in Congress, D’Amboise agreed with …

Written by Ajay Ravichandran on Friday July 22, 2011

An Environmental Stance Can Win the GOP Votes

Stanford University released a poll suggesting that GOP candidates should reconsider pandering to the most ideologically locked-in Republican voters on climate change. Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment recently released the result of polls suggesting that Republican …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Thursday July 7, 2011

Romney's Climate Change Straight Talk

Tim Pawlenty was rightly praised for speaking out against ethanol subsidies. But why hasn't Romney received accolades for telling a more dangerous truth? When Tim Pawlenty called for a (gradual) end to ethanol subsidies, he won accolades as a "truth teller." Surely he deserved them, even if (as F …

Written by David Frum on Monday June 6, 2011

Extreme Weather: A Climate Change Wake Up Call?

Climate scientists have been predicting for years that carbon loading in our atmosphere will create droughts, floods and other extreme weather events. Bill McKibben, founder of the global climate campaign 350.org , recently wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post titled em> A link between …

Written by David Jenkins on Tuesday May 31, 2011

Christie's Climate Change Straight Talk

Chris Christie may have pulled New Jersey from the Northeast's power plant cap-and-trade program but in the larger battle on climate change, he's on the right side. Chris Christie has pulled New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or "Reggie," the power plant cap-and-trade …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday May 27, 2011

Americans Tuning Out Climate Change

According to a new poll, Americans are less concerned about climate change than in years past. Its time for environmentalists to turn up the heat. According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are less concerned about climate change than in the past. Has the environmental movement dropped the …

Written by D.R. Tucker on Sunday May 22, 2011

Climate Change Policy Won't Prevent Twister Deaths

After devastating windstorms hit the South in April, there's been a push to link climate policy to preventing more tornadoes. But there are easier ways to save lives. By any reasonable measure, the windstorms that ravaged the South in April present a massive tragedy: the most disaster-caused …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Friday May 13, 2011