Climate Politics

Resmothering the Satellites

Bush admin shows no love for environmental satellites In these troubled fiscal times, America has to make difficult budgetary choices. Of course the Bush tax cuts are off-limits. But what else could we do without? Here’s a thought: how about the network of environmental satellites that gather data on weather and climate? Those seem like […]

Tomasita González, environmental-justice organizer, answers questions

Tomasita González. What work do you do? I work as a community organizer at SouthWest Organizing Project, based in Albuquerque, N.M. What does your organization do? For over a quarter century, SWOP has worked to build an environmental-justice movement in disenfranchised, working, and people-of-color communities. In the ’90s, we sought to challenge the mainstream “Group […]

Congress and Bush admin push hard to open offshore areas to drilling

Offshore drilling is the new ANWR. With the fight to pry open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge having stalled out (at least for the time being), the oil and gas industry and its cronies in Congress are now focused on parts of the outer continental shelf (OCS) that have been off-limits to drilling for nearly […]

Nobody Undoes It Like Sara Lee

Industry-backed bill would overthrow state food-labeling laws Two hundred or more state laws requiring warning labels on foods — labels indicating the presence of, say, cancer- or birth-defect-causing ingredients — would get nixed under a bill debated yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation would preempt state food-labeling rules in favor of a […]

Bring in Da Illinois, Bring in Da Hunk

Obama speechifies for energy independence, chemical-plant security Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is calling for a bipartisan effort to create a cabinet-level national director of energy security, who would coordinate federal policies to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil. In a Tuesday speech to U.S. governors, Obama touted several policies to promote oil-free energy, among them […]

That man’s got a pair, you gotta give him that

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) delivered a major speech on energy independence today. The setting was a meeting of the National Governors Association -- specifically, the Governors' Ethanol Coalition.

I'll probably have more to say about it in coming days, but for now, I've just reprinted the entire speech below the fold, for your viewing pleasure.

I think it's pretty ballsy. But let me know what you think.

I Know You Are, Senator, But What Am I?

Pro-drilling Alaska rep aims to punish anti-drilling Washington senators In the august halls of government, an unwritten rule has been passed down over the years: If the other kids play mean, don’t invite them over. Alaska state Rep. Kurt Olson (R) has sponsored a resolution in the Alaska legislature to end a ferry service that […]

There Once Was a Man From … Alaska?

Nantucket Sound wind farm could be doomed by Don Young amendment There’s plenty of local opposition to the controversial Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, but the final blow (ha!) may come from an Alaskan. After the House and Senate passed versions of a Coast Guard budget bill, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) introduced an amendment […]

Everything you ever wanted to know about … everything

So much material. So little time. So many complicated issues. So little expertise.

How about a big fat linky post!

Treehugger has a fantastic interview with Hunter Lovins, long-time champion of sustainability, now president of Natural Capitalism Solutions, Inc. She talks about her current international work, focusing on Afghanistan. I particularly like this exchange, which is relevant to our discussion of poverty earlier:

Do you believe that economic development can go hand in hand with sustainable development?

Yes, and this is a critical point. We know how to meet people's needs for energy, for water, for housing, for sanitation, and for transportation, with much more sustainable technologies than are traditionally brought by development agencies.

Most of what is called development around the world is really donor nation dollars hiring donor nation contractors to deliver last century's technologies, in such a way that the jobs and the economic benefit go right back to the originating donor country.

And when the dollars, the contractors, and the programs leave, the people in Afghanistan, or Africa, or wherever the so-called "development" is being done, are no better off than they were. If anything, they're worse off: perhaps building a massive coal plant for which they've taken foreign debt; or put in some piece of infrastructure that they don't really know how to run, that isn't creating local jobs, and isn't meeting local needs. And, everybody's wasted a lot of money and time. We can do a lot better than that.

Word.

See also Grist's interview with Lovins, and this survey about your rug preferences (really), which Lovins would very much like you to fill out.

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Speaking of fantastic interviews with Lovinses, don't miss Discover's short but action-packed interview with Amory Lovins. Just about everything the dude says is quote-worthy, but I think this is my favorite:

If I could do just one thing to solve our energy problems, I would allow energy to compete fairly at honest prices regardless of which kind it is, what technology it uses, how big it is, or who owns it. If we did that, we wouldn't have an oil problem, a climate problem, or a nuclear proliferation problem. Those are all artifacts of public policies that have distorted the market into buying things it wouldn't otherwise have bought because they were turkeys.

So much wisdom in so few words.

Dipping Alito in the Water

Clean-water cases go before Supreme Court The Supreme Court will hear two cases with immense consequences for federal clean-water protections this week. Both were brought by Michigan developers who were unable to build on parcels of land when they were denied Clean Water Act permits. The legal challenges amount to a frontal attack on the […]