News and opinions on sustainable power, cars, and climate 7 November 2012

Caution: Climate Policy Ahead? by Bill Sweet Bet on Adoption of a U.S. Climate Policy Four years ago, six months before the last presidential election, I expressed skepticism about whether the United States would adopt a cap-and-trade reduction plan, even though both candidates Obama and McCain had explicitly favored such a system. This year, though neither President Obama nor challenger Romney has uttered the words “climate change” during the campaign, my prediction is that the United States will soon adopt some kind of carbon plan, regardless of who wins. Because of dramatically extreme climate events seen in the last few years, most recently the drought that afflicted U.S. farm states last summer, most Americans have come to quietly accept that global warming is real and dangerous. Accordingly, in the immediate aftermath of the storm that devastated New York City last week, both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Andrew Cuomo prominently mentioned climate change: Without blaming climate, they said the city would have to expect more disastrous flooding as the world continues to warm. Two days later, in a move that took all political pundits by surprise, Bloomberg endorsed Obama for reelection, basing his decision almost entirely on what he said was the president’s superior position on climate change. Why would Bloomberg, who first ran for mayor as a Republican and now styles himself an independent, endorse a Democrat who has not talked publicly about climate change in the four years he has been president? Read more.http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/bet-on-adoption-of-a-us-climate-policy