New York Times (December 7)
“Revelations of the extent of Volkswagen’s efforts to hide the true level of its automobile emissions just keep piling up, yet the company appears incapable of coming clean, responding to each new revelation with denial, feigned ignorance and weak apologies.”
Chicago Tribune (October 5)
“Computer software now governs virtually every aspect of our lives, from cars to kitchen appliances…. But computer software can deceive us, and this was the disturbing message from the recent Volkswagen scandal, where the German carmaker fitted millions of cars with software that could outsmart emission-control testing.” This new era demands “a code of ethics, a Hippocratic oath, for our computer engineers and the software they create.”
Tags: Appliances, Cars, Computer engineers, Emissions, Ethics, Scandal, Software, Volkswagen
New York Times (September 23)
“What was Volkswagen thinking?” Clearly it was not about the massive fallout that has ensued since the automaker’s rigged emissions tests, affecting 11 million vehicles, came to light. “For something this deceitful and stupid, a corporate mea culpa is not enough. Volkswagen must explain how something like this could happen, and identify those who came up with the idea and authorized it.”
Tags: Automaker, Deceitful, Emissions, Fallout, Volkswagen
Washington Post (August 20)
“If you care about climate change or air pollution, you cannot casually write off nuclear power, which produces virtually no carbon dioxide emissions while generating a tremendous amount of reliable power.” Renewables simply can’t fill the gap quickly enough. Without nuclear, burning additional fossil fuel is the alternative. “No one concerned about climate change should be willing to take it off the table…. The right response to Fukushima is to make sure reactors meet high safety standards, not to make the fight against global warming much harder.”
Tags: Air pollution, Climate change, CO2, Emissions, Fossil fuel, Fukushima, Global warming, Nuclear power, Renewables, Safety
Chicago Tribune (August 3)
“Shrinking ice caps, rising seas, more flooding, more intense heat waves—these phenomena are happening now. The question is whether we can band together as a planet in time to reverse the effects.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just announced limits for greenhouse gas emissions from power generating stations. The EPA’s plan is a step in the right direction. “The more seriously the U.S. acts, the more likely other polluting nations like China and India will do the same in Paris.”
Washington Post (April 25)
“The government should eliminate energy subsidies of all kinds — for fossil fuels as well as renewable energy. Then Congress should put a significant tax on carbon-dioxide emissions and set it to rise over time. The resulting market forces would decide how the economy would move to a greener state.”
Tags: CO2, Congress, Economy, Emissions, Energy subsidies, Fossil fuels, Government, Market forces, Renewables, Tax, U.S.
USA Today (December 16)
“For 22 years, the nations of the world have been discussing ways to prevent catastrophic damage to the Earth’s climate caused by emissions of greenhouse gases…. About the best that can be said for the accord announced in Peru on Sunday, after two weeks of talks among nearly 200 nations, is that even a weak deal is better than no deal.”
Tags: Accord, Catastrophic, Climate, Damage, Deal, Earth, Emissions, Greenhouse gases, Peru, Prevent, World
New York Times (November 23)
“We don’t need to change course, or kill jobs, or wage war on anybody or anything” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All we need to do is continue increasing energy efficiency, which has been key to economic progress. “Without energy productivity improvements, America’s energy needs would have tripled since 1970…. Actual growth was only one-fifth of that. Energy efficiency has emerged as the largest and cheapest alternative to burning fossil fuels to generate electricity.”
Tags: Economic progress, Efficiency, Electricity, Emissions, Energy, Fossil fuels, GHG, Growth, Jobs, Productivity, U.S., War
Wall Street Journal (September 22)
“Global CO2 emissions increased to 35.1 billion metric tons in 2013, a new record and a 29% increase over a decade ago. Of the year-over-year carbon climb, China at 358 million metric tons jumped by more than the rest of the world combined and is responsible for 24.8% of emissions over the last five years.” Developing nations now account for nearly 60% of emissions, which means “that regardless of what the West does, poorer countries that are reluctant to sign agreements that impede economic progress hold the dominant carbon hand.”
Tags: Agreements, China, CO2, Developing nations, Economic progress, Emissions, Record, West
USA Today (August 3)
“As the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, China and America hold the key on global warming. If the U.S. acts to curb emissions, it puts pressure on China to go along. If it doesn’t, it gives China an excuse to delay.”
