I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Al Gore’s impassioned speech against climate change deniers in Colorado induced a frenzy of conservative chest-pounding last week wherein Fox News and the usual suspects swore his sermon must be a symptom of dementia. They went on to repeat the same misleading memes the ex-vice president decried in Aspen. Science, however, is on Gore’s side.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says that the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden can open the door for climate change legislation in Congress. Richardson made the statements at a Climate Leadership Gala hosted by the Earth Day Network in Washington, according to Politico.
While appearing on radio host Alex Jones’ show in 2009, Harrison Schmitt said that leaders of the environmental movement are communists. Earlier this month, Gov. Susana Martinez selected Schmitt — a former U.S. Senator and astronaut — to head the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, which oversees environmental issues.
At Friday night’s closing plenary, delegates to the United Nation’s climate talks emphasized compromise and balance. Afterwards, they returned to meetings, and in the early morning hours on Saturday, agreed to continue discussions next year on the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period and the design of a Green Climate Fund and the creation of low-carbon development plans by industrialized nations.
After the “COP 16″ talks in Cancún end today, the public should anticipate that US officials will pin blame for the failed negotiations on Bolivia’s President Evo Morales. That’s despite the fact that in almost 20 years of talks, the US has never agreed to legally binding cuts in carbon emissions.
CANCÚN, MEXICO — On Monday, Kevin Conrad, special envoy and ambassador for environment and climate change, Papua New Guinea, unveiled a new project from Sir Richard Branson: The Carbon War Room is a US-based nonprofit that “harnesses the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change.”
CANCÚN, MEXICO — As the second week of climate negotiations begins, the Mexican government is preparing for the arrival of ministers and world leaders–and hoping to head-off the same chaos that broke apart last year’s talks in Copenhagen.
The midterm elections brought an unprecedented number of climate skeptics into Congress, with no incoming Republicans acknowledging the existence of man-made climate change. Environmentalists have all but given up on passing significant climate legislation in the near future, but in the long term, it may be difficult for climate skeptics to hold their ranks: Young Americans are significantly more concerned about global warming than older generations, and there are no major organizations of young climate skeptics.
Thomas Crocker, an economics Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 1960s, developed one of the most innovative and controversial public policy proposals of our time, cap-and-trade. Forty-five years later, he reflects on his creation, saying he believes it’s the wrong approach to climate change.
Blaming competing demands like college midterms and the Balloon Fiesta, UNM organizers acknowledged a smaller-than-expected turnout for Sunday’s 10/10/10 “Take the Next Step” climate policy summit.
Despite live reggae and jazz music, and vendors offering pastries and locally-grown organic…
New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman has sponsored a renewable energy standard bill that would mandate 15 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2021. The proposal has been co-sponsored by 33 lawmakers, including at least four Republicans. One renewable energy advocate closely involved in efforts to move the RES who is not authorized to speak on the record says backers of the bill remains “laser-focused on the lame duck.”
Susana Martinez isn’t the only big-ticket candidate in New Mexico’s fall elections who questions whether human society is the root cause of global warming. The three Republicans running for Congress expressed opposition to climate change legislation and were generally hesitant to acknowledge that human activity is having important negative effects on the planet.
On Monday, the New Mexico Environment Improvement Board began hearing testimony from experts, citizens and industry concerning a rule change that could allow New Mexico to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and the oil and gas industry. The rule, proposed by New Energy Economy the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, would affect coal and natural gas power plants, as well as oil and gas facilities.
A newly-released Sandia National Labs study analyzing projected rainfall patterns across the U.S. suggests that most — but not all — of the lower 48 states would suffer economically from unchecked climate change over the next four decades.…
Any hopes of a climate bill may be on the shoulders of New Mexico’s Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who is drafting a utility-only climate bill.
Politico noted today that while…
Despite initial hopes in the green movement that the spill would spur a move away from the country’s reliance on oil, the disaster has had the opposite effect. An expansion of offshore drilling was supposed to be one of the key compromises that would bring oil-state Democrats and moderate Republicans on board with a climate bill. Now, with the country’s appetite for offshore rigs vastly diminished, the compromise has collapsed.
The state Environmental Improvement Board can resume its consideration of state regulations to cap greenhouse gas emissions, The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Monday.
While scientists agree that the potential impacts of climate change will be widespread—and in the already arid southwestern United States, severe—Congress has yet to pass climate change legislation. The move for federal cap and trade legislation—which would cap emissions but allow flexibility in compliance— is on its death bed, felled by the poor economy and vehement industry opposition, among other factors. As states grapple with how to move forward, in New Mexico, gubernatorial candidates on both side of the aisle agree that climate change regulation is not a state’s prerogative.
New Mexico’s Eastern Plains could see a second Dust Bowl caused by climate change, USA Today reported Friday. Oklahoma state climatologist Gary McManus is warning that changing precipitation patterns caused by climate change could be “catastrophic” for northeastern New…
By 2016, new cars should get an average of 35.5 miles per gallon, according to new vehicle emissions standards issued yesterday by the federal government.
