20 Questions With... Cartoonist Mikhaela Reid -- In These Times

Q: What’s a mistake the mainstream media always makes that really gets under your skin?

A: I don’t know where to start! Lending legitimacy, weight, authority, balance, what-have-you, to whacked-out bigots and foaming-at-the-mouth right-wing extremists is always a big mistake. In other words, I really hate the way the mainstream media is prone to treating fundamental civil rights (like, say, LGBT rights) or agreed-upon scientific principles (climate change) as things that are up for debate and giving 50 percent face time to views that are 100 percent screwed up...

Less Carbon Allegedly Can Mean More Growth

THE HAGUE – Although the global recession is serious and its duration uncertain, the world must nevertheless continue to focus on the far-reaching threat of climate change. Indeed, if we are smart, public policy can serve the twin goals of stimulating growth and fighting global warming.
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Clearly, strapped treasuries will have difficulty providing funds. But emission-trading schemes can provide an alternative source of financing. For example, the EU recently set aside 300 million tradable emission allowances, to be awarded to innovative renewable energy projects or CO2 storage projects. Depending on the market price for a ton of CO2, that could mean about €6-9 billion in assistance to get such new technologies up to scale.

No one knows if the economic crisis will last months or years. But a good outcome in Copenhagen will serve the world for decades to come by sparking growth and taking steps to control greenhouse-gas emissions.
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Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell, chairs the Energy and Climate Change working group of the European Round Table of Industrialists.