Climate Politics

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  • Why enviros should have a more active voice about regulations

    Speak up!Photo: theparadigmshifterBecause the political arena is often fraught with hyperbole, misinformation, and special interest pandering, facts and reason don’t count for as much as they should. Despite that, green advocates have smartly and effectively engaged in the political arena to help protect the environment and public health. But to augment that advocacy, it is […]

    Michael A. Livermore Politics

  • Reagan helped save the ozone layer but ruined America’s leadership in clean energy

    The clean energy “culprit in chief.”Sunday was the 100th anniversary of President Reagan’s birth. As ThinkProgress points out, the right-wing hagiography of the Gipper leaves out the fact that he was “a serial tax raiser” and “nearly tripled the federal budget deficit” and “gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants.” His overall environmental legacy as […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • What Obama should know about ending oil subsidies

    This post originally appeared on the Great Energy Challenge blog, in partnership with National Geographic and Planet Forward.  Despite my seriously mixed feelings about the State of the Union speeches, I tuned in to this year’s speech for the first time in several years. Like many, I was disappointed if not surprised that President Obama […]

    James Barrett Politics

  • How a lie enters the political bloodstream

    Pants on fire …I get the Energy IssueWatch Newsletter from Congress rag The Hill. In last Friday’s edition, reporter Ben Geman wrote, “Advocates of limiting emissions say it’s inaccurate to compare EPA rules to cap-and-trade proposals that collapsed on Capitol Hill last year.” This is, I suppose, progress. It’s a “she said” to the “he […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Egypt has a population crisis as well as a democracy crisis

    Hosni Mubarak is a dictator who has to go — that’s obviously the animating force behind the protests in Egypt. And more power to the protesters! But Egypt’s problems run much deeper than its autocratic regime, and one of its biggest problems is unsustainable population growth. Here’s a 2009 Al Jazeera report on population pressures […]

    Lisa Hymas Politics

  • The Climate Post: Here come a bunch of bills to block the EPA

    The chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) unveiled draft legislation to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The bill caps a rough week for the EPA in Congress, reports Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones. It is joined by a […]

    Christopher Mims Politics

  • Obama gets a little climate hawkish: ‘Carbon pollution’ is contributing to ‘climate change’

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama emphasized his commitment to transforming America’s energy policy, with initiatives to move our nation away from killer fossil fuels. Although he called for doubling “clean” electricity in the United States, he argued only that this was important to keep […]

    Brad Johnson Politics

  • ‘Objective’ political media helps Inhofe lie about EPA

    Photo: Nicco MelesSens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and John Barrasso (R- Wyo.) have each introduced bills that would eliminate EPA authority over climate pollution. That represents a legitimate policy position, albeit one I disagree with profoundly. In the process of pushing their bills, however, both Inhofe and Barrasso have claimed that greenhouse gas regulations represent an […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Crazy storms highlight the crazy climate mess we’re in

    A hard snow’s a-gonna fall.Photo: 350.orgIf you were in the space shuttle looking down yesterday, you would have seen a pair of truly awesome, even fearful, sights. Much of North America was obscured by a 2,000-mile storm dumping vast quantities of snow from Texas to Maine — between the wind and snow, forecasters described it […]

    Bill McKibben Politics

  • Can You Hear Me Now? Hanging Out with the EPA

    This post was co-written by Craig Segall, Attorney for the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program. Two public hearings from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., this week, will help decide whether our efforts to stop runaway climate change will rest on a strong foundation. First up, EPA will be hearing from the public […]

    Mary Anne Hitt Politics