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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
Putting America Back to Work with Green Jobs, thedailygreen.com | July 12, 2010
The phrase "building a green economy" means different things to different people, but in general it refers to encouraging economic development that prioritizes sustainability--that is, working with nature and not against it in the quest to meet peoples' needs and wants--instead of disregarding environmental concerns in the process of growing the economy. read more »
Historic Oil Spill Fails to Produce Gains for U.S. Environmentalists, The Washington Post | July 12, 2010
Traditionally, American environmentalism wins its biggest victories after some important piece of American environment is poisoned, exterminated or set on fire. An oil spill and a burning river in 1969 led to new anti-pollution laws in the 1970s. The Exxon Valdez disaster helped create an Earth Day revival in 1990 and sparked a landmark clean-air law. read more »
Reid Faces Balancing Act Crafting Energy and Climate Legislation, thehill.com | July 12, 2010
It is officially crunch time for Democrats who are struggling to craft a far-reaching energy and climate change bill slated for debate on the Senate floor this month.
After weeks of public and private political sales pitches, senators pushing bills that respond to the BP oil spill and boost "clean" energy find their fate in the hands of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Hot Weather in a Warming Climate, dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com | July 9, 2010
The headline above is a play on the headline from a March 2008 post, “ Cold Weather in a Warming Climate,” written when climate stasists were crowing about snow falling in Johannesburg and Baghdad. read more »
Obama Wants Billions More in Energy Tax Credits, The Washington Post | July 9, 2010
President Obama will call Friday morning for Congress to pass $5 billion in energy manufacturing tax credits, according to a White House official. read more »
For BP, Multimillion-Dollar Fines Amount to a Day’s Worth of Profit, propublica.org | July 9, 2010
A reader wrote in to point out that too often, the fines that BP has faced for safety and environmental violations over the years are rarely put into proper context: in proportion with profits. read more »
Holder: Spill Probe Not Confined to BP, Politico | July 9, 2010
Attorney General Eric Holder signaled here that the Justice Department may be conducting a sweeping criminal investigation into the Gulf Coast oil spill, saying that its suspected targets may cover more than just BP. read more »
Bush MMS Director Defends Tenure: ‘When I Was There It Seemed To Work Well’ , wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | July 9, 2010
Johnnie Burton, the director of Bush’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) from 2002 to 2007, has no regrets about her tenure, saying in an interview that she found no problems within the agency, now disbanded in disgrace. Burton — at 70 now a case worker for Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) — defended her record to the Caspar, WY, Star-Tribune. read more »
Appeals Court Says No to Obama Drilling Moratorium, Los Angeles Times | July 9, 2010
A federal appeals court Thursday rejected the Obama administration's request to keep a six-month moratorium on deep-water oil drilling in place while it mounts a legal defense of the ban. read more »
Owner of Exploded Rig Is Known for Testing Rules, The New York Times | July 8, 2010
Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling company, but until its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April, few Americans outside the energy business had heard of it. It is well known, however, in a number of other countries — for testing local laws and regulations. read more »
