Climate Politics
All Stories
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Calling Africa to action on climate
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and George W. Bush agree on one thing: developing nations need to do more to curb the threat of climate change. (Of course, they don't agree on the much more vexing question of whether overdeveloped nations -- one highly overdeveloped nation in particular -- should do anything to address the ballooning problem ...)
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An excerpt from The War Against the Greens takes a hard look at the Wise Use movement
In 1988, the Wise Use movement was founded out of fear that George Bush Sr. was going to live up to his campaign pledge to be "the environmental president." This cabal of anti-environmental activists, organized by federally subsidized industries dependent on public lands, issued a natal document, the Wise Use Agenda. It called for, among other things: drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, logging Alaska's Tongass National Forest, opening wilderness to energy development, gutting the Endangered Species Act, and privatizing national parks. Today, the reactionary Wise Use Agenda has become the environmental policy of the administration of George Bush Jr.
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GMOy Vey
Battle over GM crops rages on in Europe Europe’s ambivalence over genetically modified crops continues to lead to outbreaks of conflict and recrimination. The latest flurry involves a European Union vote on whether to approve a breed of GM corn made by biotech giant Monsanto. Eight countries voted to approve, 12 voted to deny, and […]
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Oops, We Did It Again
Native Americans at risk from toxic military leftovers More than a century ago, the U.S. slaughtered a bunch of indigenous folks and put the rest on reservations in the most arid, isolated, undesirable parts of the American West. A new study shows that many closed military sites in the Lower 48 states — including bombing […]
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McCain ruffles GOP feathers with continued calls for action on climate change
McCain gets heated up. Presiding over his final hearing as chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered a feisty swan song assuring GOP colleagues and environmentalists alike that he won’t be giving up his fight for climate-change regulations anytime soon — even if the Bush administration […]
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Arabian Fights
Arabs and Latinos work together for environmental justice in Michigan The area that includes south Dearborn and southwest Detroit is densely populated, ethnically diverse, and highly industrialized — as such, it is a revealing test case for the environmental-justice movement. For at least five years now, particulate pollution in the area’s air has exceeded federal […]
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Lockyer and Load
California says it will sue feds over Sierra Nevada forest plan If the Bush administration’s plan to increase logging in the Sierra Nevada national forest is approved, California will sue to block it, said state Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D). Last Thursday, the head of the U.S. Forest Service approved the plan; U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary […]
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The last thing enviros need now is a bout of radicalism
Enviros made unprecedented efforts to sway the 2004 election with legitimate tools: advertising, fundraising, rallying, knocking on doors. It didn’t work. Apparently that fact is not sitting well. The top response in a poll asking Grist readers where green-minded folks should direct their energy in the next four years was “armed resistance” — by a […]
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Stick a Pork in It
GOP senators pack anti-environmental pork into huge spending bill Powerful Republicans in Congress fought valiantly against the “do nothing” label yesterday by trying to do an awful lot for their industry cronies. A number of senators endeavored to attach various anti-environmental provisions to a must-pass government-funding bill, including measures that would (take a deep breath) […]
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On Your Mark, Get Set, Kyoto!
Kyoto gets a kick-off date After nearly seven years of doubt and often rancorous debate, the Kyoto Protocol has an official start date: Feb. 16, 2005, at which point the treaty will become binding. The 90-day countdown period begins tomorrow, thanks to the handover of official documents from Russia to the U.N. at a ceremony […]
