On Pipelines, Politics and Climate

A short Dot Earth chat with Michael Levi, who tracks energy and climate policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

He describes how Obama's pending decision on the Keystone bitumen pipeline has little significance compared to broader energy and emissions policies.

Among other points, he says: "The goal of climate policy should be to reduce demand for fossil fuels and if we do that the oil sands will become superfluous."
More: http://blogs.cfr.org/levi
http://j.mp/DotOIL

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• oil
• keystone
• tar
• sands
• energy
• climate
• warming
• politics
• co2

[perfectstream314]

I am no scientist, an Average American. I am so.concerned about environmental and practical choices to be made on this subject. I sometimes think we are selling out. Mother nature will.get us in the end.

[vengencefrom1979]

current CO2 levels are at 392 ppm, within 3 years they will hit 400 ppm, a level not seen for millions of years. global warming has the potential to defrost antarctica not in centuries or even decades but years. antarctica is connected to every tectonic plate around the world. when trillons of tons of ice are removed it will rise out of the ocean by as much as five miles and crack the earths crust. this is not a doom and gloom prophesy, this is science. we are going to need a lot ot trees.

[chozenone111]

Do you think climate change took a hit with the emails that were hacked and put on the interent? Also why would cap and trade benefit green house gas reduction when it didn't help in europe.