There’s a chance that this post is going to be construed as lazy. So be it. I’ve found all sorts of awesomeness on blogs and newspapers in the last few days, and I’m a big fan of giving credit where credit is due. (Speaking of which, thank you, Stephen Colbert, for Americone Dream: arguably the best way to pay tribute to freedom on the Fourth of July.) The following are things that caught my attention and really got me thinking.

First, yea Massachusetts! (The Red Sox right now? Not so much.)

The second comes from Grist. It’s a little bit wonky, but offers an interesting alternative to cap-and-whatever. Specifically, it talks about a system that taxes carbon but then returns the money to energy companies for investment based on how efficient they are. The one point that I think it misses with a general carbon tax (versus cap-and-trade that has declining permits built in, or I guess versus the system that the article describes) is the problem of counting on politicians to raise the tax every so often in order to continue reducing demand for carbon-based fuel. Congress doesn’t even like voting themselves a raise because it’s so unpopular, and there at least they get something out of it (in fact, in the late 1990s they finally indexed their salaries to inflation). Unless the tax increases automatically, it seems likely that such a plan would stagnate.

This article by Time presents 10 upsides to high gas prices. This does not mean that I think that high gas prices are unequivocally good, but there are some neat insights here that are at least worth thinking about.

Finally, this week The Onion put out their “Obligatory Green Issue.” Though it is a little bit sad when real life is almost as funny as the fake news The Onion does (see The Daily Show’s clip on the EPA email from June 25).

In other news, stay tuned for some exciting stuff next week. I’m going to NORTH DAKOTA for a conference (the Prairie Climate Stewardship Conference), and I will hopefully have all sorts of juicy energy insight to tell y’all about. Until then, Happy Fourth!

-Diana