Can destroying a tropical rainforest be “sustainable”? Well, according to a decision taken yesterday by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the major industry-NGO body, this greatest of environmental crimes is now officially “green.” Palm oil plantations have driven the destruction of more than 30,000 square miles of tropical forest in Indonesia and Malaysia alone, pushing species like orangutans and Sumatran rhinoceroses and elephants to the edge of extinction. It’s the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia, and has propelled Indonesia to be the world’s third largest climate polluter behind only China and the United States. …

President Obama will start to determine his second-term approach to climate change today as the House of Representatives sends final legislation to his desk that empowers him to bar U.S. airlines from complying with Europe’s climate law. If he signs the bill, Obama will not only be failing to take sufficient action to address climate change, but actively going out of his way to stop another country from doing so - a pretty extreme act at the worst possible time. The controversy: the European Union has finally ended  airlines’ exemption from European pollution rules, and has applied its law equally …

You may not be able to tell from the sublime stillness of his hair, but United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek is foaming at his strong-jawed mouth. The European Union at long last has ended United and other airlines’ exemption from the continent’s climate law, including both domestic European flights as well as flights that take off and land in Europe.

That means that United and other U.S. airlines accustomed to polluting with impunity now will have to either improve their efficiency or purchase pollution permits.  All in all, that’s expected to add a whopping three dollars to the cost of a transatlantic flight, where coach tickets average $1000 round trip (US airlines are already imposing a surcharge to cover these additional expenses, before they’re even required to pay them!). Each way, the extra expense is equivalent to the price of the 2.6 ounce bag of potato chips that United charges its coach-class customers.

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise...is to help you and your family. – Willard Mitt Romney, August 30, 2012

The moment Mitt Romney mocked the climate crisis will be cursed, rued, and lamented by future generations. It might even be cursed, rued, and lamented by Mitt Romney, if he looks back on that line as the beginning of the end of his flirtation with young voters and their planet. After all, America’s best and brightest youth are pouring themselves into innovation to create clean energy, to solve the climate crisis, and win the future…and Mitt Romney tonight sent the message that his America has no place for them.

But while Romney mocked the Earth with his words, President Obama is mocking the planet with his actions.

In the past year, examples abounded of forests being protected or restored on a grand scale. But those successes put the colossal failures and the corrupting forces behind them in stark relief: For too many forests, some combination of rapacious corporate greed, rising global population and consumption (particularly in Asia), local corruption, ignorant or careless political leadership and a lack of a strong grassroots environmental movement overwhelmed forest defenders -- leading to destruction of some of the most biodiverse, carbon-dense forests in the world. The bright contrast showed that deforestation is no ways inevitable -- in many cases, the same …

Photo: Tar Sands ActionThe Obama administration has decided to delay a decision on the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline until after the 2012 election. This is only a temporary, inadequate victory, but an extraordinary achievement for the thousands of grassroots activists who put ourselves on the line. It's also clear evidence for the environmental movement that directly targeting President Obama works, and probably works better than any other strategy. (Kudos especially to 350.org, Bill McKibben, Friends of the Earth, and Bold Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb.) As amazing as this progress is, however, let’s not delude ourselves: President Obama is just kicking the …

If you thought President Obama’s expressions of sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street movement meant he was suddenly going to stand up for "the 99 percent" and their planet, think again. Obama has just submitted to Congress the Chamber of Commerce-backed Colombia, Panama, and Korea Free Trade Agreements, which are opposed by pretty much every constituency involved in the OWS movement, from environmentalists to labor unions and human rights activits. It's a rare trifecta of hippie punching. And now, thanks to maneuvering by Obama and his business-friendly Chief of Staff William Daley and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, they’re on …

This is the final story in a four-part series about how Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and foreign timber companies have turned illegal logging into the Tea Party's cause célèbre. Read part 1, part 2, and part 3. Faced with accusations that his company had illegally imported wood from Asia, Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz launched a media campaign bashing the federal government's action and criticizing aspects of the law he had allegedly broken -- the Lacey Act, which bans the import of illegally logged forest products. "We've been severely harassed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), no charges have been filed, …

This is the third story in a four-part series about how Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and foreign timber companies have turned illegal logging into the Tea Party's cause célèbre. Read part 1, part 2, and part 4. When the Fish and Wildlife Service carried out a search warrant against Gibson Guitar last month, CEO Henry Juszkiewicz went on the offensive. His company was suspected of illegally importing precious wood from Madagascar and India. In response, he launched a PR campaign aimed at mobilizing right wing groups and media in defense of his company's alleged illegal activities. Juszkiewicz started by going …

Gibson's logging miles on a highway to hell.This is the second story in a four-part series about how foreign timber companies, Tea Party groups, and Gibson Guitar have turned illegal logging into a Republican cause célèbre. Read part 1, part 3, and part 4. On August 24, federal agents knocked on the doors of Gibson Guitar headquarters and factories in Nashville, Tenn., and seized large quantities of imported wood. The company, famous for its Les Paul guitars, had apparently aroused suspicion for importing guitar fingerboards from India under false pretences -- claiming the wood was "veneer" when it was allegedly …