Climate Politics

Obama Hiccups; Grist Rushes to Transcribe

Obama slams Bush admin for inaction on America’s oil addiction Sen. Barack Obama, progressive golden boy, rebuked the Bush administration yesterday for being all talk, no walk on curbing oil use. When President Bush said America is addicted to oil, “I was among the hopeful,” said the Illinois Democrat. “But then I saw the plan.” […]

Jilting at Windmills

Measure in Congress could kill Cape Wind project The Cape Wind project on Nantucket Sound may soon receive another blow — oh, we’re so funny! — if Congress passes an amendment giving Massachusetts power to veto the controversial wind farm if it would interfere with navigation. Of course, it depends on what the definition of […]

What Fresh Eliot Is This?

Spitzer claims green mantle in race for governor of New York As attorney general of New York, Eliot Spitzer (D) has garnered a reputation for many things, but subtlety is not one of them. So it’s fitting that he kicked off the first big environmental speech of his gubernatorial campaign with this: “George Bush is, […]

Space Inveighers

New NASA policy emphasizes open communication with media Stung by recent press reports of political interference with scientists — the dictum that “Big Bang” be accompanied by “theory” was amusing; the suppression of global-warming findings less so — NASA has scrambled to repair the PR damage. Yesterday, administrator Michael Griffin released a new policy making […]

Bush admin unveils meek new fuel-economy standards for light trucks

The Bush administration yesterday raised fuel-economy standards for SUVs, minivans, and many pickup trucks — the most significant boost to efficiency requirements for the big vehicles in three decades. Exempt no more. Photo: iStockphoto. Of course, as enviros have been quick to point out, that’s not saying much. These final CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) […]

Two eco-leaders — one mainstream, one radical — debate the movement’s past and future

Eric Mann. When Eric Mann first encountered environmentalists, he saw them as a bunch of “arrogant, racist airheads.” When Frances Beinecke first encountered environmentalists, she felt she’d found her cause. Frances Beinecke. Nearly four decades later, both are tireless proponents of environmental sanity, but they work in very different ways. Mann is director of the […]

In the world’s slums, the worst of poverty and environmental degradation collide

This article was originally published in OrionOnline. Precarious dwellings in North Sulawasi, Indonesia. Photos: iStockphoto. A villa miseria outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, may have the worst feng shui in the world: it is built in a flood zone over a former lake, a toxic dump, and a cemetery. Then there’s the barrio perched precariously on […]

Will an Atlanta parks and redevelopment project benefit low-income residents?

Atlanta, Ga.: the famous “Hot-lanta” of Southern heat and hospitality, home of “down-home” fried chicken and a growing black middle class, cradle of the largest historically black college community in the world, hotbed of the civil-rights movement, and … the sprawl capital of the South. As Atlanta gets greener, who will benefit? Photo: iStockphoto. As […]

Speechifying.

Hmm ... New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is writing editorials for the Manchester Union-Leader? Whatever interest could the governor have in New Hampshire?

The piece itself verges on parody, it is such a generic recitation of Democratic talking points on energy. "Foreign oil," check. "Apollo-like project," check. "Can't drill our way out of the problem," check. "Big oil companies with record profits," check.

Of course, I think it's all to the good that this has so quickly become conventional wisdom. It's all true. But Richardson has always struck me as a bit smarmy and unimaginative. This piece of writing, which may as well have come from the Democratic Central Computer's Energy Phrase Generator, only reinforces that impression.

On Hollywood’s downtrodden eco-chicks, and how they’ve changed

“A working-class hero is something to be,” said John Lennon. But for Hollywood, it’s more likely to be a working-class heroine — at least when environmental issues enter the picture. Charlize Theron in North Country. Photo: 78th Academy Awards® This year, Charlize Theron’s crusading miner-activist in North Country garnered an Oscar nomination, following in the […]