Climate Politics

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  • Does coal mining matter to our energy future?

    So I’m reading a story about what effect the recent West Virginia coal mine disaster will have on national energy policy, and I run across this jaw-dropping quote: “This is a mining accident,” says Bill Wicker, communications director for the Senate Energy Committee. “This issue involves the health and safety of our miners, not our […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Energy trumps the environment, poll finds

    The majority of Americans prioritize the development of energy supplies over the protection of the environment, a new Gallup poll has found, the first time this has happened in the question’s ten-year history. Conducted in early March, before President Obama’s announcement that he would open much of America’s coastlines to offshore drilling, the poll’s results […]

    Samantha McCann Politics

  • A firestorm of comments over LaHood’s big bike speech

    LaHood steps up at the National Bike Summit on March 11.Courtesy BikePortland via FlickrFour weeks ago Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood climbed on a table and declared the reign of the almighty auto was finished. Federal transportation funding would no longer favor cars at the expense of bicycling, walking, and mass transit, said the 65-year-old Republican […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • The Seattle project

    Courtesy Michael @ NW Lens via FlickrOn a wintery, gusty morning last Saturday, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn rode his bicycle down from his north-side home to a downtown architecture and design firm for a rather unmayoral event. Some 60 or 70 people had gathered for a daylong “unconference,” a loosely organized bring-your-own-lunch affair, to plot […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • We need birth control, not geoengineering

    I’ve written about my choice not to have children.  What’s all too easy to forget is that many women still don’t have any reasonable choice about their fertility. An estimated 200 million women around the world don’t have access to family-planning tools.  If they did, 52 million unwanted pregnancies could be averted every year, according […]

    Lisa Hymas Politics

  • Abandoning Congress is not a winning strategy for climate activists

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. Senators drafting comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation are negotiating with polluters, and talking about combining a cap on carbon with public incentives for nuclear plants, “clean coal,” and offshore drilling. Should supporters of strong, progressive action to solve the climate crisis give up on Congress and work within the […]

    Brad Johnson Politics

  • Time for Obama to embrace another GOP energy plan

    By Jesse Jenkins and Yael Borofsky With President Obama’s announcement Wednesday that the administration would support expanded offshore oil and gas extraction, it’s now apparent that price pressures on oil make political pressures on politicians impossible to ignore and that some expansion of offshore drilling is inevitable. But despite Green backlash against the Obama administration’s […]

    Jesse Jenkins Politics

  • China’s global shopping spree: Is the world’s future resource map tilting East?

    Cross-posted from TomDispatch. Think of it as a tale of two countries. When it comes to procuring the resources that make industrial societies run, China is now the shopaholic of planet Earth, while the United States is staying at home. Hard-hit by the global recession, the United States has experienced a marked decline in the […]

    Michael T. Klare Politics

  • Can we get some attention for our issues now?

    Fareed Zakaria — prominent foreign policy writer, Newsweek International editor, Washington Post columnist — uses President Obama’s campaign words to suggest it’s time for the president to devote his attention to energy policy: During the 2008 campaign — before the global economic crisis — Barack Obama said the top three things he wanted to accomplish […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • Me, on Grit.tv, talking about Obama’s drilling plan

    Yesterday I went on Grit.tv with Laura Flanders to discuss Obama’s new drilling plan. Watching it now, I think the main lesson is that I desperately need more sleep, or at least a professional make-up artist to hide the bags under my eyes. Here it is: One quick follow-up note: I think my focus on […]

    David Roberts Politics