Climate Politics

The legislation isn’t perfect, but it’s far better than extending the 2002 bill

With the new farm bill languishing in the last stages of negotiations, many are bemoaning its lack of sweeping reform, suggesting that we have gained very little from months and years of work.

But if the new bill is not to be the visionary document that many hoped and advocated for, what, if anything, do we stand to lose if the new bill is vetoed or negotiations reach an impasse and the 2002 farm bill is extended for two years?

There are several small but important gains that we are poised to win if the new farm bill gets passed, making it an improvement over the underlying bill from 2002. These improvements include provisions that support local and regional food systems, organic production and research, beginning farmers, nutrition, and the environment, and they are the reason why Congress should pass a new farm bill.

These bright spots in an otherwise murky and massive bill are not likely to induce a major change to our broken-down food system, but they are seeds we must plant for greater reform and broader transformation in the years to come.

Bush may turn about-face, ask Congress to address climate change

President Bush may soon announce that he wants Congress to pass a climate-change-fightin’ bill, and will lay out suggestions for what that should include as early as this week, according to the Washington Times. Republican Congressfolk reportedly are cautioning the administration not to go too crazy. The U.S.-led climate group of major economies meets this […]

Clinton, Obama questioned on climate change at religion forum

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were asked about climate change as part of the Compassion Forum, a gathering focused on eliciting the candidates’ views on matters of faith. Asked whether Americans can combat global poverty and climate change without changing their standard of living, Clinton got all “10 things you can do,” […]

Presidential advisers discuss climate and energy on C-SPAN

On Friday, C-SPAN hosted an event with energy/environment advisers from all three campaigns — attending were Jason Grumet (Obama), James Woolsey (McCain), and Todd Stern (Clinton). (A slightly different threesome than the one I saw at the WSJ conference.) You can watch streaming video of the event here. I haven’t watched through the whole thing […]

Clinton & Obama to be queried on CNN tonight at 8pm EST on climate

Dem hopefuls Clinton and Obama will participate live tonight in The Compassion Forum, a discussion of "pressing moral issues that bridge ideological divides" including poverty, AIDS, Darfur, human rights, torture, and ... drumroll please ... climate change.

The pair will field questions from CNN and Newsweek talking heads as well as from members of the faith community. The Rev Sally Bingham, of the very cool Interfaith Power and Light Campaign will be asking the climate questions. Go get 'em, Sally!

And for the interest of any political strategists out there, this forum is slated to be broadcast on Church Communications Network to tens of thousands of people in 1,000+ congregations nationwide on April 20, the Sunday evening before the PA primary.

Congress has a chance to protect sharks from finning

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the U.S. Court of Appeals' decision to throw out penalties against a fishing vessel carrying 64,695 pounds of shark fins in U.S. waters. Shipping a cargo full of shark fins without sharks is illegal in the United States, but the King Diamond II sailed through a loophole that allowed it to carry fins it had gathered from other ships.

Something good has come out of this: The decision has galvanized pressure to end the brutal practice of shark finning, which kills tens of millions of sharks annually, including many species already threatened by extinction.

Late on Wednesday, Delegate Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) introduced the Shark Conservation Act of 2008, which will not only require all sharks to be landed with their fins, but also require any other sharks imported into the United States to have the same protections. It's an intermediate step in ensuring protection for sharks worldwide, but it's a vital step all the same.

Enviros not fond of new forest management rules

The U.S. Forest Service has released new regulations for forest management that are remarkably similar to regulations that a federal judge struck down last year. Under the new rules, species’ sustainability will not be evaluated individually; instead, the focus will be on overall habitat. A coalition of green groups have sued, saying the rules loosen […]

Gandhi, King, and climate change

The need to reduce our impacts is actually a tremendous opportunity to build a green economy, green jobs, and green infrastructure. But first it will require us -- the developed world, emerging economies, oil and coal interests -- to change the way we think. Gandhi and King understood this. In fact, they eerily anticipated our predicament and speak to us across the decades about it. They both quite clearly foresaw a time when technological development divorced from development of consciousness would threaten the survival of the planet.

Salmon fishing season canceled in California, heavily restricted elsewhere

Photo: Josh Larios For the first time ever, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council has voted to cancel the salmon fishing season off the coast of California and much of Oregon due to exceedingly low populations of chinook salmon in the Sacramento River area. The restrictions apply to commercial as well as recreational fishers; only a […]

New York governor puts the kibosh on proposed LNG terminal

Newbie New York Governor David Paterson has put the kibosh on a proposal for a liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound. Paterson and other outspoken opponents say the Broadwater project would damage the sound and be a floating terrorist target. Oil companies TransCanada and Shell, which are pushing the project, point to LNG […]