Climate Politics

The Hansen Bothers

More climate scientists come out against Bush Andrew Revkin of The New York Times has written what may be the definitive account of the battle over science politicization in and around the Bush administration. The broad outlines are familiar — the science community is more politically mobilized than it has been in decades, outraged at […]

Green Dawn

Activists work to form Green Party in Russia A group of environmental activists and scientists is seeking to create a Green political party in Russia, expressing high hopes despite considerable hurdles. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s environmental situation has gone from bad to worse. Environmental standards are among the world’s lowest, the […]

Ban Ban

Federal judge repeals Clinton snowmobile ban The latest chapter has opened in what has become a sort of mini-Iliad for our times: the battle over snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. On Friday, a federal judge in Wyoming, Clarence Brimmer, struck down the ban on snowmobiles in the parks put in place toward […]

Grateful Deadlock

Congressional paralysis dooms environmental legislation Partisan bickering and electioneering in Washington, D.C., have led to an impasse on nearly all environmental legislation in Congress the past two years — bills that enviros love as well as ones they hate. Other than the “Healthy Forests” initiative and a piece of brownfields funding, Congress has been deadlocked […]

Pegeen Hanrahan, mayor of Gainesville, Fla., answers questions

Pegeen Hanrahan What work do you do? Earlier this year I was elected to serve as mayor of Gainesville, Fla., for the next three years. Gainesville is a beautiful and diverse city of about 117,000, often called “the city in the forest” because of our heavy tree cover. Gainesville is the home of the University […]

All the mus(ing) that’s fit to print

In its Sunday endorsement of Kerry and scathing critique of Bush, The New York Times spends more time on the environment than the candidates did in their three debates. (To whom does such an endorsement speak -- do any undecideds read The Times?) Amidst the many many paragraphs that lay out an argument against a second Bush administration, the patient greenie finds this one:

If Mr. Bush had wanted to make a mark on an issue on which Republicans and Democrats have long made common cause, he could have picked the environment. Christie Whitman, the former New Jersey governor chosen to run the Environmental Protection Agency, came from that bipartisan tradition. Yet she left after three years of futile struggle against the ideologues and industry lobbyists Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had installed in every other important environmental post. The result has been a systematic weakening of regulatory safeguards across the entire spectrum of environmental issues, from clean air to wilderness protection.

The editorial spends more time condemning Bush's record than building a case for a Kerry presidency. Yet, the editorial board found space among the relatively few sentences allocated to praising Kerry to call attention to this environmental matter:

The environmental issue in the debates

In comments here, clark and da silva agree (more or less) on the following proposition:  It would be great if the environment mattered more to swing voters, but it doesn't, and the tactical goal of the debate is to move swing voters, so maybe a green rooting for Kerry should be happy the question didn't come up -- particularly given how Kerry botched it in the second debate.

Well, yes and no.

Dustup in the Wind

Proposed wind farms spark controversy in Kansas It seems that controversy over wind turbines — a common feature of the European political landscape — has crossed the Atlantic and headed for the American heartland. In the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas, farmers and ranchers are organizing to ward off plans by wind developers to build […]

Oh Brother, Where Art … Oh, There You Are

Jeb Bush borrows money to accelerate Everglades plan President Bush has made much of his devotion to wetlands, even vowing during the second debate to “increase the wetlands by 3 million.” Three whole million! But the nation’s biggest environmental initiative — signed into law in 2000 and aimed at restoring Florida’s most beloved wetlands, the […]

Martial Flaw

Bush admin fights off environmental restraints on military In the presidential campaign of 2000, Bush vowed to force the military to “comply with environmental laws by which all of us must live,” but according to a comprehensive investigation by USA Today, he has done the opposite. Since assuming power, the Bush White House has worked […]