Nicole Allan
Recently by Nicole Allan
Sep 25 2009, 9:26AM
An Immune System for the Planet: Bill McKibben on Organizing Popular Action When Political Leaders Disappoint
Bill McKibben, author of the first global warming book for a general audience, was none too impressed with President Obama's speech to the U.N.'s climate summit on Tuesday. Obama stressed the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for diplomatic cooperation by industrial giants but also by developing countries. While many listeners appreciated the president's strong-handed rhetoric, McKibben thought he set the bar too low. Or, actually, not low enough.
The environmental writer and activist (and erstwhile Atlantic contributor) spearheads a global movement to embrace an atmospheric carbon target of 350 parts per million (ppm). This figure is a good 20 percent below the 450 ppm target that's recently populated pragmatic debate and that was espoused in the climate bill the House passed over the summer. But just ten months ago, leading climatologist Jim Hansen presented a paper stating that "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted," atmospheric carbon must inch no higher than 350. A bit disconcerting, given the current level of around 390.
The environmental writer and activist (and erstwhile Atlantic contributor) spearheads a global movement to embrace an atmospheric carbon target of 350 parts per million (ppm). This figure is a good 20 percent below the 450 ppm target that's recently populated pragmatic debate and that was espoused in the climate bill the House passed over the summer. But just ten months ago, leading climatologist Jim Hansen presented a paper stating that "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted," atmospheric carbon must inch no higher than 350. A bit disconcerting, given the current level of around 390.
Sep 22 2009, 9:50AM
Sneaking a Peek at the Climate Summit Playbook
Today, nearly a hundred world leaders are meeting in New York for the U.N. Climate Change Summit. Impressive though this gathering may seem--especially when placed in the fabulous PR context of Climate Week NYC, an events line-up featuring everyone from Ban Ki-Moon to Harrison Ford--it is a mere glimpse of what this December's U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen holds. Attendees of this conference will be charged with the grand task of hammering out a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, a set of binding greenhouse gas reduction targets that took force in 2005 and has been ratified by 184 countries--though conspicuously not by the U.S. or China. Riding the wake of a global economic crisis and the escalating urgency of climate change, the Copenhagen conference promises to be a high-wire act of shifting power currents and geopolitical tensions. Today's summit is, then, an opportunity for key players to feel out their competitors and lay the groundwork for effective negotiation come December.
Sep 16 2009, 9:48AM
Do Women Legislators Benefit From An Underdog Effect?
Politico ran an article yesterday about a new Stanford/University of Chicago study finding that women lawmakers outperform their male counterparts. The study focuses on three measures of performance: how many bills legislators introduce, how many co-sponsors they recruit, and, most significantly, how much discretionary spending they bring home to their districts. In all three categories, women are a head above men. On average, the study found, they sponsor three and co-sponsor 26 more bills per Congress than male legislators, recruit 25 more co-sponsors per term, and rake in 9 percent more discretionary spending. (You can download the report here.)
Sep 14 2009, 11:16AM
Beware Of Decoys In The Abortion Wars
At 7:20 a.m. on Friday, a pro-life protester was shot. He was 63 years old and had spent much of his life protesting abortion. He was brandishing a graphic photo of a fetus outside a Michigan high school when someone sped by in a car and shot him down. The suspect, now in custody, is also linked to another recent, unrelated murder and told police that he had planned to kill a third person. The other victim and intended victim had each employed the suspect's mother upwards of ten years ago, so his motive in these cases does not seem related to the abortion debate.
Aug 26 2009, 1:05PM
The End Of A Patriarchy?
Over at her women's website DoubleX, Hanna Rosin (who happens to be guest blogging at The Daily Dish this week) hopes that Ted Kennedy's passing signals the demise of the traditional Kennedy woman, a role that forced Rose and her daughters to "preen and pose" and, "if they were lucky, like Eunice Kennedy Shriver...[manage] to install themselves at the head of virtuous non-profits." I'd add that this role has already been undergoing some awkward adjustments at the hands of Ted Kennedy's niece, Caroline.
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