Climate Politics
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Astute climate bill analysis from DJ Biz Markie
Everything you need to know: Via Repower America.
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Watch out, Kerry–Big Ag’s not done with your climate bill
The agribiz lobby: plenty of horsepower. With the support of three big oil companies in hand, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is now tailoring his climate bill to please the folks over at the Chamber of Commerce, Mother Jones‘ Kate Sheppard reports. What about agribiz? The good senator seems intent on bringing that greenhouse-gas-spewing industry into […]
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The good news about the very bad news (about climate change)
Cross-posted from TomDispatch. These days, I see how optimistic and positive disaster and apocalypse movies were. Remember how, when those giant asteroids or alien space ships headed directly for Earth, everyone rallied and acted as one while our leaders led? We’re in a movie like that now, except that there’s not a lot of rallying or […]
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More lessons from Wales for moving beyond coal
Guardian columnist George Monbiot reported recently on the unlikely groundswell of environmental progress in Wales, the Appalachia of the U.K. Its national Plaid Cymru party is more progressive and more ambitious than Britain’s three leading parties when it comes to building a low-carbon economy. Monbiot argues that it’s the unusually flexible and open political climate […]
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Scientists show ‘growing’ fuel is waste of energy
Burning industrial corn in your gas tank: just as dumb as it looks in this silly picture.It’s no mystery where Grist comes down on the food vs. fuel debate, aka the Great Ethanol Boondoggle. But it’s nice to see the science continuing to support our side of the argument (via Science Daily): Using productive farmland […]
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Republican Opinions on Environmentalism have Shifted Drastically in the Past 10 Years
In honor of Earth Day, Gallup has just released polling showing how American’s opinions of the environmental movement have changed in the previous ten years. At first glance, the results aren’t pretty: But as has been the case in several other recent polls, the change is due almost entirely to a sharp shift among Republicans. […]
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This Earth Day, it's about Hip Hop and Hard Hats
On April 22nd, 1970, twenty million Americans took action for the first Earth Day, marking the unofficial birth of the modern environmental movement. Forty years later, Earth Day is as much about hip hop and hard hats as it is about polar bears and Ponderosas. Over the past few years, the green movement has seen […]
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What to look for in the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill
On Monday, Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will launch their bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. I’m quite certain there will be something in it to dissatisfy everyone. On the other hand, has Congress ever passed a significant bill that didn’t dissatisfy everyone, particularly on the environment? We […]
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‘Save transit’ rallies start up around U.S.
Courtesy Atlanta Journal ConstitutionThe rallies that get all the attention these days are about stopping new initiatives, like health-care reform. But here we’ve got rallies about defending part of the shared social fabric. Off-duty public transit workers in Atlanta plastered large red X’s on buses and trains (with permission) to highlight the severe budget shortfall […]
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On Earth Day, a senator’s demand for public policy based on real science
As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the most serious environmental problem that we face is not global warming or the pollution of our air, water, land and food. It is whether or not our country moves forward in developing public policy based on science or whether we make decisions based on politics […]