Daily Score Blog

When it comes to climate, we’ve been watching California for a while and wondering why the climate buzz is particularly loud in Cali. Does citizen concern spur lawmakers into action or does state action spur buzz among citizens? Or both?

Nowadays it’s definitely both. Californians are ahead of the curve when it comes to opinions about both threats from climate pollution and potential opportunities; they’re savvy about policy options, and regional impacts.

According to the pollsters, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, “one of the striking findings of the poll was that there was little difference in views on warming based on party affiliation.” In my opinion, this is at least partly because GOP Governor Schwarzenegger has taken a lead on climate policy, allowing party lines to blur when it comes to responsible choices for all Californians who are thinking about the future they’d like to leave their kids and grandkids. (When he's talking about climate, Arnie mentions the legacy we’re leaving our grandchildren in almost every speech these days.)

Here are some findings from a poll released last Friday that surveyed more than 1,000 state residents.

I was at a club on Saturday night celebrating a friend’s birthday and found myself – no, not on the dance floor – trying to talk over loud, pounding music about China’s energy policies.

A friend of a friend had remarked that the US shouldn’t bother reducing emissions if China kept on the track it’s on. So, I was glad I’d recently written up a practical, three-step how-to guide for debunking this very line.

It’s true that China’s galloping economy means that the country’s total emissions are on the rise -- big time. But this week, in a comprehensive report on renewable energy in China, Worldwatch Institute provided another couple of talking points to add to my list of reasons why the US can’t afford to sit around while China gets busy. You see, China may be leading the world in emissions -- but they're leading on some green fronts too:

Some unfinished business: I’ve been thinking and writing about Bicycle Neglect now for half a year, and I still have not defined the term—an oversight that I’ll rectify right away.

Bicycle Neglect is a syndrome with four mutually reinforcing symptoms:

Congratulations to the two Northwest writers who won National Book Awards this week, Sherman Alexie and Denis Johnson. (And a belated congratulations to last year's winner, Timothy Egan, who's also a Northwesterner of course.)

It's an interesting curiosity that all three writers have roots in the Inland Northwest. Though he lives in Seattle now, Alexie was born in Spokane and grew up nearby on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Egan, who also lives in Seattle now, grew up in Spokane. And the reclusive Denis Johnson reportedly lives in northern Idaho.