Climate's Sub-Prime Mortgages

onMay 20, 2008 @ 10:18 PDT

Carbon offsets — and emissions-trading schemes, their industrial-scale siblings — are the environmental version of subprime mortgages.

They both started from some admirable premises. Developing countries like China and India need to be recruited into the fight against greenhouse gases. And markets are a better mechanism for change than command and control. But when those big ideas collide with the real world, the result is hand-waving at best, outright scams at worst. Moreover, they give the illusion that something constructive is being done.

By Ross Gelbspan

us/Ohio Denies Evidence of Fracking Waste in Drinking Water. Its Own Records Show Otherwise.

ByJustin Nobel

on Oct 30, 2026 @ 09:02 PDT

As more than a billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater flood beneath Ohio, pollution concerns reach its heated governor’s race.

President Trump Unveils EPA’s New Contradictory Methane Proposal at Campaign Rally

ByRachel Santarsiero

on Oct 30, 2026 @ 06:00 PDT

The agency is loosening methane rules while keeping its authority to regulate them. Critics say the stance leaves federal climate law in limbo, inviting a bigger rollback later.