Climate Change

How will Americans get around in the year 2030? A recent report from the RAND Corporation lays out two "plausible futures" developed though a "scenario analysis" and vetted by outside experts. While RAND takes a decidedly agnostic stance toward the implications of each scenario, the choice that emerges is still pretty stark.

President Obama announced a sweeping package of measures to address combat climate change today. But with a couple of exceptions, he was largely silent on the third of carbon emissions that come from the transportation sector.

Last night’s mayoral forum on sustainability at Cooper Union was the first to attract the full slate of candidates this election season, perhaps a sign that environmental issues now figure prominently in the campaigns’ electoral calculus. Organized by the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and the Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design, the event packed all nine registered mayoral candidates onto the stage, where Brian Lehrer of WNYC guided a conversation that touched on topics ranging from climate change to energy efficiency.

Since 1970, the National Environmental Protection Act has required federal agencies to consider the impacts of their projects on air, water, and soil pollution -- but not on climate change.

A study by the government of the Australian state of Victoria highlights the limits of electric cars, in isolation, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

If there's any good news to come out of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, it's that political leaders and the press are actually talking about climate change. At the end of a long campaign season with barely a mention of the issue, it's a relief to hear some sane discussion of the issue based on the premise that global warming is real.

The overwhelming sentiment that greeted our story on the gas consumption maps the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club put out last week went something like this: These are almost useful. Just about everyone agreed that looking at total fuel consumption per county wasn’t very informative without weighing that number against population.

If you think the United States is doing a bad job shifting toward sustainable transportation, take a look at the developing world. The places with the most to lose from auto-oriented development are doubling down on it -- to the enormous detriment of their citizens, especially the poorest.

Alex Steffen goes by the title “planetary futurist,” which makes me realize I should probably spruce up my title to something that makes me sound like I should be wearing a cape, too. What he does is write about sustainable cities, on WorldChanging.com for seven years and more recently in his book, Carbon Zero.