Geoengineering and the Fight against Climate Change

Making News

Update on California's Budget Woes ()

Governor Brown today revised the budget to say that the deficit will approach $16 billion and that there are two ways to whittle that number down. The Governor used the announcement to pitch his plan to raise income taxes on the wealthy and sales tax on everyone else by a quarter percent. Whatever voters say to tax hike idea, Brown will have some big cuts to make with big fiscal and political repercussions. KCRW's Steve Chiotakis has a special report on California's budget woes.

Guests:

• Anthony York: Los Angeles Times, @AnthonyYorkLAT
• Vanessa Aramayo: California Partnership, @calpartnership
• Tani Cantil-Sakauye: California Supreme Court

Links:

• York on Governor Brown's proposal for closing the $16 billion funding gap
• California Partnership update on the the state budget
• Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye budget cuts' damage to state judicial branch

Main Topic

Franken-clouds on the Horizon? ()

As another international climate conference begins in Bonn, Germany, today, the world continues to warm and the human role grows ever more clear, as does the inability to reach meaningful agreements to slow emissions. One possible solution is scientists altering the atmosphere and cooling the planet with technology. But would that be the good news or the bad news? Some environmentalists say a geoengineering 'fix' might be worse than doing nothing. We're already messing with the atmosphere, and it hasn't worked out very well. Even research advocates seem afraid of the idea. But things are very likely going to get worse, and a 'Plan B' might look a lot better a couple of decades from now. We should start testing ideas now.

Guests:

• Michael Specter: New Yorker magazine, @specterm
• Ken Caldeira: Stanford University, @KenCaldeira
• Pat Mooney: ETC Group
• David Archer: University of Chicago
• Maggie Koerth-Baker: Boing Boing, @maggiekb1

Links:

• NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director James Hansen on the science and politics and climate change (NYT op-ed)
• Specter on 'the climate fixers'
• Specter's 'Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives'
• Archer's 'The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth's Climate'
• Koerth-Baker's 'Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis before It Conquers Us'

Reporter's Notebook

Fallout after JP Morgan's $2 Billion Loss ()

One of Wall Street's most powerful women, Ina Drew, resigned as chief investment officer at JP Morgan Chase today, taking responsibility for the firm's $2 billion loss. Yesterday, CEO Jamie Dimon told Meet the Press, "We think Dodd Frank, which we supported parts of, gave the FDIC the authority to take down a big bank. And when it happens,…the board should be fired, the equity should be wiped out, the bank should be dismantled and the name should be buried in disgrace….This is a very unfortunate and inopportune time to have had this." Reporter Ezra Klein writes the Wonkblog at the Washington Post.

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Guests:

• Ezra Klein: Washington Post, @ezraklein

Links:

• Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act