The consulting firm McKinsey & Co has just issued a report saying that even without government funding, the technology for trapping the carbon emitted by coal plants and burying it might pay for itself by 2030. China and India probably won’t throw themselves into the new tech whole-heartedly at first, because it looks like it will add about a billion euros to the initial cost of building each new plant. But the EU has stepped up by ordering a slew of trial models built by 2015.

Of course, there’s the small problem of the rich West having already created a horrendous climate situation. Not the best dynamic for pressuring an ascendant China into good stewardship. We’re basically the parent that just got thrown out of Betty Ford trying to get junior to put down the vodka. I think that might have been what happened in Postcards from the Edge.

Image: flickr/thewritingzone 

The EPA draft study states that simulations showed that in those regions, higher average temperatures will potentially lead to longer smog seasons and worse health threats for kids, the elderly, and people with respiratory issues.

Greater visible ecological damage in Midwestern swing states… Electoral boon for greens? Probably depends on how severe and well-publicized the adverse health effects, sadly.

 Image: flickr/steven.buss