Getting a conversation going has been a major challenge for this site. We’ve put a lot of energy into that effort, but that just doesn’t seem to be the right direction for this topic in this community.

So for the rest of the summer, we’re taking a different tack. We’ll be working with some local videobloggers to allow community members’ voices to be heard via video interviews.

I’ll be meeting with those videobloggers next week after I return from a business trip, and we should be up and running soon.

Who would you like to see interviewed here? Please comment below or e-mail me.

• Carbon Market Looks Past G8 to US Election || Planet Ark
  Carbon market traders and backers of clean-energy projects aren’t holding their breath for a strong statement on fighting change during this week’s G8 summit and are more focused on who wins November’s US election.
  (tags: carbon+trading G8 clean+energy climate+change greenhouse+gases)
• Ritter: West can shape energy future || GJSentinel
  Colorado’s unique combination of resources makes it a good showcase for what a national policy can look like “going forward,” Gov. Bill Ritter said. Ritter and other Western governors are preparing a national energy plan that they hope the next pres
  (tags: Colorado energy Ritter natural+resources governors)
• What’s the difference between Carbon Offsets and Renewable Energy Credits, Anyway? ()
  Really great, clear backgrounder. You should definitely read this to understand what you’re really buying, if you’re inclined to paying out of pocket for your environmental sins…
  (tags: environment business background carbon)

• Wind: The Power. The Promise. The Business
  “Advocates of alternative energy are pitted against defenders of the status quo, which in Kansas means coal. The flash point: a proposal by Sunflower Electric Power to build two 700-megawatt, coal-fired power plants in western Kansas.”
  (tags: energy environment wind+power agriculture Kansas)

• A Reporter at Large: The Island in the Wind || The New Yorker
  Samsø, a Danish island roughly the size of Nantucket, has been transformed from a conventional emitter of CO2, to a net contributor of renewable energy resources, dramatically reducing its carbon footprint — all in just a single decade, writes Elizabeth
  (tags: carbon+emissions carbon+footprint Denmark renewables global+warming climate+change)

• Hansen — We must tax carbon | | Grist
  James Hansen’s headline-grabbing broadside against Big Oil and Big Coal CEOs may prove less significant than his full-throated advocacy of carbon tax-and-dividend as the highest priority for reducing carbon emissions and abating global warming.
  (tags: carbon+tax James+Hansen carbon+emissions global+warming)
• Carbon Tax to Help Curb Climate Problems || Treemaple Blog
  On Monday, James Hansen, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said at a congressional briefing that the government should not keep the proceeds from any carbon tax, but refund the money to taxpayers to help them pay for more fuel
  (tags: carbon+tax carbon+emissions James+Hansen Congress global+warming)
• Prominent Economist on Tax Shift to Combat Climate Change | NDN Blog
  Prominent economist Robert J. Shapiro, who chairs the the U.S. Climate Task Force, has released a paper that details a strategy for implementing a carbon tax and using 90 percent of the revenue to cut the payroll tax.
  (tags: carbon+tax payroll+tax global+warming climate+change Shapiro Climate+Task+Force carbon+emissions)
• Everyone Wants a Say on Climate Change || CQ Politics
  The hot-button issue of climate change is attracting a swarm of lobbyists representing virtually every major interest group, even though lawmakers say they don’t expect to move legislation this year.
  (tags: global+warming climate+change Congress lobbyists legislation)
• California air board announces plan for carbon-credit trading || Los Angeles Times
  California air regulators today (June 26) announced a bold plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions that would alter the way utilities generate electricity, automakers build cars and developers construct buildings, and launch the nation’s broadest market in
  (tags: carbon+trading credits California greenhouse+gases carbon+emissions global+warming climate+change utilities buildings)

• No justice, no cap | Gristmill: The environmental news blog
  Blogger Charles Komanoff writes about a decision by an environmental justice coalition to push for a carbon tax over a carbon trading program because of the potential with cap-and-trade for fraud and lack of transparency.
  (tags: environmental+justice carbon+tax carbon+emissions cap+trade carbon+trading climate+change global+warming)
• Who you callin’ a carbon tax, buddy? | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist
  Does the “tax” in carbon tax doom it as a policy option in the U.S.? Probably, says one commentator, despite the fact a tax isn’t very different from a cap-and-trade approach.
  (tags: carbon+tax cap+trade global+warming carbon+emissions carbon+trading)
• Colorado, Kansas governors at Earthjustice event || unEARTHED
  Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., will join Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at a clean energy forum sponsored by Earthjustice on June 26 in Denver.
  (tags: Ritter Colorado clean+energy climate+change sustainability governors global+warming)

• Colorado Business - The Denver Post
  Sterling-Rice Group, a Boulder- based brand and marketing-communications firm, announced it has purchased 339,300 kilowatt hours of renewable-energy credits generated by wind farms across America.
  (tags: renewables credits business Boulder)

This week the Boulder-based marketing communications firm Sterling Rice Group announced that it’s offsetting 100% of its electricity use by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from Renewable Choice Energy, also based in Boulder.

RECs are a popular way for people and organizations to shrink their carbon footprint. One reason why RECs (and a similar kind of offering, carbon offsets, which help fund other kinds of projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions) are popular is that all the buyer has to do is write a check. That’s certainly much easier and faster than trying to make your home or building more energy efficient, or rearranging your life so you can drive less. And if these programs are properly audited (for instance, Green-E certifies the RECs sold by Renewable Energy Choice), chances are good that buyers’ dollars are yielding measurable greenhouse gas reductions.

Still, some people question whether buying RECs and carbon offsets are the best use of the money people want to spend to help mitigate climate change.

Here are some issues commonly raised by critics of RECs and carbon offsets…
Read the rest of this entry »

• Senate Begins Largely Symbolic Climate-Change Debate || Wired.com
  “[E]even among the pro-pricing carbon camp, there is plenty of room for squabbling about the details. There are two basic camps: cap-and-traders and taxers. … Carbon tax proponents, like Wired Mag, argue that a simple tax “would eliminate three classes
  (tags: carbon+tax senate climate+change carbon+emissions cap+trade global+warming)
• Senate Opens Debate on Politically Risky Bill Addressing Global Warming - NYTimes.com
  The Senate on Monday opened a raucous debate over climate change legislation even though it will put supporters of the bill, including all three presidential candidates, on the spot — essentially forcing them to come out in favor of high energy costs at
  (tags: senate carbon+emissions carbon+trading cap+trade global+warming climate+change)

• McCain on climate change || Seattle PI
  Like the D’s, McCain is calling for a cap-and-trade system restriction emissions and allowing polluters to trade their credits, though it’s not clear how much of industry would be covered by McCain’s plan, or how those credits would be allocated.
  (tags: McCain president campaign climate+change global+warming cap+trade greenhouse+gases carbon+emissions)
• McCain Differs With Bush on Climate Change || New York Times
  The senator’s remarks were a clear criticism of Mr. Bush, who in his first term questioned the scientific basis for global warming and who has remained opposed to mandatory caps on emissions, which he says would be bad for the American economy.
  (tags: McCain president campaign carbon+trading cap+trade global+warming greenhouse+gases climate+change economics)
• McCain Breaks with Bush on Climate Change | | washingtonpost.com
  Key differences remain between McCain and the Democrats on climate change — several of which the senator outlined in his talk.
  (tags: McCain president campaign global+warming climate+change greenhouse+gases carbon+emissions carbon+trading cap+trade democrats)
• Ediorial: The Post-Bush Climate || New York Times
  We have clearly entered the post-Bush era of policy and politics on climate change. However this election turns out, the United States will have a president who supports mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases. It is possible to begin to believe in the prospec
  (tags: McCain president campaign global+warming carbon+emissions greenhouse+gases carbon+trading cap+trade Congress)