Economists call them "externalities." They're the costs of people's actions on other people or communities—though the people taking those actions don't have to pay for those costs, even as they harm others. The emissions from combusting fossil fuels to propel vehicles are clearly a prime example. DON'T MISS: A Brief History Of Smog, Which... When will we see ‘tailpipes’ on cars as morally wrong? An Earth Day question
Economists call them "externalities." They're the costs of people's actions on other people or communities—though the people taking those actions don't have to pay for those costs, even as they harm others. The emissions from combusting fossil fuels to propel vehicles are clearly a prime example. DON'T MISS: A Brief History Of Smog, Which... ![Donald J. Trump in November 2016 [photo: The Trump Organization]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/donald-j-trump-in-november-2016-photo-the-trump-organization_100590012_t.gif)
As the Trump Administration nears its 100th day, it seems fair to say that it is still emitting mixed messages on multiple issues, from foreign policy to climate change. On that latter, it's important to reiterate that the president and many of his appointed agency and department heads deny the science of climate change. On the campaign trail, the... 
The Clean Power Plan’s future looks uncertain at best under President Donald Trump. The commander-in-chief appears to be urging American utility companies to pivot back towards burning coal to produce electricity. Ending the so-called “war on coal” is intended to create jobs in the mining sector, at the expense of the... 
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has gone on record saying publicly what most analysts have discussed privately: the notion that Washington can direct the energy market back towards coal is wrong. In fact, Bloomberg is willing to go further: he believes that the U.S. can still meet the reductions set forth in the Paris climate treaty... ![The White House, Washington, D.C. [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/white-house_100170583_t.gif)
Last Wednesday, a broad coalition of environmental groups sued the Trump Administration over an executive order that lifted a moratorium on issuing new leases for coal mining on federal lands. That order would have eliminated the requirement for an environmental impact study on the impacts of any form of coal extraction across a wide swath of... 
The new U.S. president, Donald Trump, is working to eradicate every Obama policy to limit the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Having variously called the science behind climate change a "Chinese plot" to hurt the U.S. and referred to it using an expletive for bovine excrement, this shouldn't come as a surprise. He pledged to do... 
Given the current political landscape in Washington, it's not unreasonable to worry about the future of U.S. efforts to combat climate change. The Trump Administration has embarked on an explicit mission to undo all Obama Administration efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Climate-science deniers in the current administration include Trump himself...