We talk about the relatively simple problem of global climate change with Brigham Daniels. Starting with EPA’s just-proposed regulations, we discuss the very odd way that U.S. law has confronted the problem. Why has it become a partisan issue and how do we overcome that? Are economic signals enough or must ethics change and tribal alliances break down? How might that happen? Darcy and a special canine guest make brief appearances.

This show’s links:


Brigham Daniels’ faculty profile and writing
Brigham Daniels, Addressing Global Climate Change in an Age of Political Climate Change
EPA, Carbon Pollution Standards
EPA, Carbon Power Plan Proposed Rule, including links to the proposed rule and numerous fact sheets concerning the EPA’s proposed rule for existing power plants
Vox’s Guide to Obama's New Rules to Cut Carbon Emissions from Power Plants
Jonathan Cohn, Obama's New Rules for Coal Plants Are a B.F.D. The Ensuing Political Fight May Be Even Bigger
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, website and wikipedia
Explanation of the Kyoto Protocol
U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2014 National Climate Assessment
USGCPR, Appendix: Climate Science Supplement
About the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC
IPCC Assessments
Massachusetts v. EPA, holding (among other things) that EPA has authority under some parts of the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions
EPA, Section 111(d) Plans mandated after an endangerment finding
In re Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing, in which the D.C. Circuit upholds U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s listing of the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act
Justin Gillis and Kenneth Chang, Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans From Polar Melt
Ezra Klein, How Politics Makes Us Stupid
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Climate Change Debate on YouTube
Letter from Moynihan to Ehrlichman in the Nixon White House warning that rising carbon dioxide levels were “very clearly” a “problem,” potentially destroying New York and Washington
Competitive Enterprise Institute, Energy, YouTube video (“They call it pollution. We call it life.”)
Kevin Drum, Sorry, "Daily Show": Anti-Vax Nuts Come From Both Sides of the Aisle
Jedediah Purdy, Climate Change Needs the Politics of the Impossible
Ezra Klein, 7 Reasons America Will Fail on Climate Change
Special Guest: Brigham Daniels.