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Can Obama Make Defeating Climate Change His Legacy? by Damian Carrington, Mother Jones | January 23, 2013
As legacy issues go, saving the planet from global warming would put all others in the shade. But can President Barack Obama do it? The question has two answers, one at home and one abroad. He is certainly reinvigorated in his determination to tackle climate change. In his first term, those wanting action were too often left parsing single sentences to divine the intentions of the president. Obama's inaugural speech on Monday left no room for doubt. read more »Global Warming Is a Domestic Crisis by Juan Cole, truthdig.com | January 23, 2013
As President Obama made clear in his inaugural address Monday, failing to confront the threat of climate change in his second term would be a betrayal of future generations. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science,” Obama said, “but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought and more powerful storms.” Actually, there are some who can avoid fires, drought and storms, but most of them voted for Mitt Romney. At a time of continued unemployment and Republican assaults on workers’ rights, the climate crisis may not seem like a pressing bread and butter concern. However it is vital for the president and his allies in Congress to remember that those Americans most defenseless against extreme weather and natural disasters form the backbone of the Democratic Party. That is the only conclusion one can draw from the draft of a new federal study on global warming’s growing impact on the United States. read more »Could This Scary Report Get Americans to Care About Climate? by Chris Mooney, Mother Jones | January 15, 2013
Lately we're being bombarded by news about just how dramatically climate change is transforming the United States. Early last week, we learned that 2012 was by far the hottest year on record in the lower 48. Late Friday came another gut punch: a draft of the third US National Climate Assessment. The report describes, among other things, a future of disappearing coastlines, a staggering rise in average temperatures of up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (~6 C) this century, and more frequent heat waves and weather extremes. What's more, it bluntly states that our modest efforts thus far are "not sufficient" to avert these devastating futures. If we don't do a lot more to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report warns, the warming will "accelerate significantly." From a public opinion perspective, it's hard to think of a more propitious moment for the arrival of such a document. Polling suggests that Americans are increasingly aware—and unnerved—that our world is changing rapidly. read more »How to Reach the Last 20 Percent by David Sirota, truthdig.com | January 11, 2013
There’s a big reason climate change differs from so many public policy challenges: unlike other crises, addressing the planet’s major environmental crisis truly requires mass consensus. Indeed, because fixing the problem involves so many different societal changes—reducing carbon emissions, conserving energy, retrofitting infrastructure, altering a meat-centric diet, to name a few—we all need to at least agree on the basic fact that we are facing an emergency. That’s why as encouraging as it is to see a new Associated Press-GfK poll showing that 4 in 5 Americans now see climate change as a serious problem. Unfortunately, that 1 in 5 may be enough to prevent us from forging the all-hands-on-deck attitude necessary to halt a planetary disaster. America desperately needs a serious public education campaign. The good news is that with such education, many of those who don’t yet believe climate change is a serious problem can, in fact, be reached—and convinced to accept obvious reality. read more »Heat: Hell On Poor Countries, No Biggie For The Rich by Dave Roberts, grist.org | January 10, 2013
Normal heat fluctuations hurt poor countries but not rich countries. Why? Part of it is that poor countries are more dependent on agriculture, which is sensitive to heat. But the biggest reason is access to energy, or more specifically, something wealthy countries take for granted: air conditioning. It’s hard to exaggerate the effect air conditioning has had in unlocking economic growth. The great question of the century is, how much extra heat — or storms, or droughts, or fires — will it take to start biting into the economic growth of wealthy countries? Because until that happens, it’s tough to see where they’ll find the political will to start spending big on climate mitigation and adaptation. Poor countries, however, are getting screwed right here and now. And they will get screwed harder and harder in coming years, suffering the effects of carbon emissions for which they are not responsible. It’s kind of a shitty deal. read more »Avoiding A Climate-Change Apocalypse by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Washington Post | January 8, 2013
As you may have noticed, the end of the year was all about the end of the world. Mayan doomsday prophesies. Rogue planets on a collision course with Earth. Fear-mongering about an artificial “fiscal cliff.” House Republicans doing, well, what they usually do. Fortunately, for now, life as we know it continues. And scary as all of this sounds, the real horror show, the true existential threat, is yet another crisis of our own making: the catastrophic effects of climate change. There’s no need to read Revelations or catch a Michael Bay-Jerry Bruckheimer matinee to understand what it will look like. Just Google image search “Hurricane Sandy and Staten Island,” and you’ll get the general idea. read more »Could Chuck Hagel, Likely Defense Secretary Nominee, Turn Out To Be A Climate Hawk? by Lisa Hymas, grist.org | January 7, 2013
Chuck Hagel, who’s expected to be nominated as secretary of defense this week, has long been confused about climate change … and yet concerned about it too. He has a history of obstructing climate action, but also a record of elevating climate as a national security issue. If he’s confirmed to head the Department of Defense, he might ultimately show himself to be a climate hawk — though not one who hews to green orthodoxy or any party line. On the one hand, Hagel — a Republican senator from Nebraska from 1997 to 2008 and now co-chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board — has professed many views you might associate with a climate denier. On the other hand, Hagel has long cited climate change as a threat to national security and an important issue in terms of international relations. read more »Climate Chaos: some key 2012 events by A Siegel, dailykos.com | December 31, 2012
Will Big Oil Keep Its Subsidies in a Fiscal-Cliff Deal? by Andy Kroll, Mother Jones | December 7, 2012
Democrats and Republicans are duking it out in Washington over a deal to avert the slew of spending cuts and tax increases—the so-called "fiscal cliff" you've heard so much about—that will take start to effect on January 1. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have argued that "everything should be on the table" in negotiations toward a deal that trims the nation's debt and avoids the cliff. Yet notably absent from the debate over what to cut and what to spare in a deal are the tens of billions of dollars in subsidies, tax breaks, and other perks for the hugely profitable oil industry. That silence begs the question: Will Big Oil's subsidies go untouched in the fight over a fiscal-cliff deal? read more »Cliff Notes on the Three Real Perils Ahead by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | December 6, 2012
The “fiscal cliff” is a metaphor for a government that no longer responds to the biggest challenges we face because it’s paralyzed by intransigent Republicans, obsessed by the federal budget deficit, and overwhelmed by big money from corporations, Wall Street, and billionaires. If we had a functional government America would address three “cliffs” posing far larger dangers to us than the fiscal one. read more »
The Latest
Heads in the Sand...., Washington Monthly | October 19, 2010
A decade ago, George W. Bush told voters he'd support a cap on carbon dioxide. Two years ago, the GOP's McCain/Palin presidential ticket supported a cap-and-trade policy.
The Republican hostility towards science and evidence isn't new, but its wholesale, party-wide rejection of all climate data is new.
Environmental group claims poll on climate bill shows support for incumbent Democrats, thehill.com | October 19, 2010
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund says new poll data shows that voters in regions with competitive House races prefer incumbent Democrats who support legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions. more »
States Aim to Cut Energy Bills , stateline.org | August 13, 2010
North Shore Community College, located outside Boston, joined the glitzy side of the green-building trend last November when it broke ground on the first state-owned “zero net energy” building in Massachusetts. The 58,000-square foot health and student center, with geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels on the roof, will produce more than enough power to cover its energy needs.
Obama's Beach Will Be Clean, But Oil Lies Beneath Sand Nearby , Huffington Post | August 13, 2010
The Florida Panhandle beach where the Obamas are going to spend the weekend to boost tourism in the region is indeed pristine and oil-free.
Panama City Beach, where the White House has announced the first family will be staying Saturday and Sunday, was spared the worst of the BP oil spill, sullied only by sporadic tar balls that were easily cleaned up.
Despite Costs, ‘Clean Coal’ Remains Obama Priority, dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com | August 13, 2010
The vast remaining deposits of coal in the world guarantee that this fossil fuel will remain a big part of the global energy mix for decades to come. And that reality guarantees that countries with a lot of this resource will remain hopeful that coal can be burned without adding substantially to the atmosphere’s building heat-trapping blanket of carbon dioxide.
Pro-Coal Lawmakers Cheer Federal Carbon Capture Report , thehill.com | August 13, 2010
Several Capitol Hill lawmakers on Thursday cheered new federal recommendations to spur deployment of technologies that trap carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and store them underground. more »
Races Put Climate Pacts in Jeopardy, Politico | August 11, 2010
States have set the pace over the past decade as the nation’s leaders in implementing climate change policy, but much of their work could be on the line this fall. more »
Recycling Land for Green Energy Ideas, The New York Times | August 11, 2010
Thousands of acres of farmland here in the San Joaquin Valley have been removed from agricultural production, largely because the once fertile land is contaminated by salt buildup from years of irrigation. But large swaths of those dry fields could have a valuable new use in their future — making electricity.
Liberal, Green Groups Create Site Tracking Oil, Coal Political Donations, thehill.com | August 11, 2010
Atlantic Hotter Than Before Katrina, Boosting Storm Forecasts, bloomberg.com | August 10, 2010
This year, Gray and meteorologists at the U.S. National Hurricane Center say there’s more reason for concern that the sky will fall than any time since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. At least 15 more “named” storms with winds of 39 miles per hour or more will develop before the 2010 season ends, Colorado State researchers predict.
