Jake Schmidt's Blog

Black carbon – that nasty air pollution that causes major health problems – also happens to be a very powerful contributor to climate change. In fact, a new multi-year international study has just found that it’s the second most powerful … Continue reading →

Last year global emissions of carbon pollution rose to record levels, with declines in some key countries but with rising emissions elsewhere offsetting those declines. These are depressing statistics, especially in light of the significant signs of global warming that … Continue reading →

  The climate negotiations in Doha, Qatar can begin the long-hard process of building a stronger international effort to address global warming.  It won’t finalize that agreement, but it will begin the effort (hopefully).  Here is how. This is a … Continue reading →

Today, President Obama signed into law a bill that would send a signal that it is way past time for aviation to reduce its global warming pollution.  At the same time the White House signalled its commitment to securing a … Continue reading →

The foundation of international action to address global warming is built with the actions that countries take at home to reduce their global warming pollution.  Despite the ups and downs of international global warming negotiations we have seen some promising … Continue reading →

When people around the world turn on their lights, most of them waste energy and their money as their light bulbs meet outdated requirements for how much energy they can use. In the process they emit global warming pollution as … Continue reading →

  What if I told you that governments around the world were spending almost $1 trillion dollars a year to subsidize activities that are driving global warming?  What if I told you that the leaders of the major countries had … Continue reading →

Twenty-two high level representatives have just released their report – Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing—which sets out specific recommendations to “put sustainable development into practice and to mainstream it into economic policy as quickly as possible.”  The … Continue reading →

The agreements in Durban provide very important hints of a stronger future agreement that includes legal commitments by all countries.  This is important progress.  Little noticed in the overall commentary of the Durban outcomes was important progress on implementing the … Continue reading →

  For the last two global warming negotiations – in Copenhagen and Cancun – there were serious efforts by countries to get a “mandate” to negotiate a new legal agreement that would strengthen international efforts to address global warming.  Before … Continue reading →