Climate Politics
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Terrorism laws are wrongly being used to round up eco-activists, says author Dean Kuipers
Rod Coronado.“Rod Coronado is not a terrorist,” says Dean Kuipers, author of Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado’s War to Save American Wilderness and a longtime writer about the world of eco-activism. Back in the 1980s and ’90s, during Rodney Coronado’s radical sabotage campaigns on behalf of animals and the environment, terrorism was generally considered to […]
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Can trade policy and climate policy work hand-in-hand?
This past weekend, while traveling in India, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received the message, courteous but firm, that India has no intention of capping carbon. The rationale provided is that India has low per capita emissions. This is, to be sure, India’s best argument. Her overall emissions are soaring as her population spirals upward–India, […]
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We need an energy revolution
The United States today spends some $400 billion a year importing oil from countries like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Mexico, Russia, and Venezuela. Think for a moment what an incredible impact that same $400 billion a year could have on our country if that money were invested here and not abroad, in such areas as weatherization, […]
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Obama stays on message … health care, health care, health care
The White House billed Wednesday night’s primetime press conference as being about health care reform. And sure enough, President Obama and the press by and large stuck to that script. The president made a passing mention of renewable energy in his opening remarks, saying the U.S. economy “simply wasn’t ready to compete in the 21st […]
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Washington guv highlights green-jobs potential of climate action
Washington Gov. Christine GregoireWashington state has already surpassed its ambitious goal for creating green jobs, and the rest of the country could see similar results if Congress passes strong energy and climate legislation, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) told the Senate this week. In 2007, Gregoire set a goal of having 25,000 green jobs in […]
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The Climate Bill Shouldn’t Give Coal a Free Pass
Now that historic U.S. climate legislation – the American Clean Energy and Security Act – (ACES), has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate is debating its version of energy/climate legislation, let’s talk about what must be fixed before it gets to the President’s desk. Big Coal has long sought and enjoyed loopholes for […]
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Grading Senate websites reveals a lack of transparency on climate and energy
Grist got to wondering, “Can voters in all 50 states go online and easily find out what a senator thinks about climate change and energy policy?”Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / Grist Listen up, James Inhofe, because this might be the only compliment Grist ever pays you: You’ve got a decent website. Despite your wacked-out […]
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National security emphasis could inspire more support for climate bill, says former Sen. John Warner
Former Sen. John WarnerMore senators and citizens might support a climate bill if it emphasized the national security challenges presented by climate change, former Virginia Sen. John Warner (R) argued on Tuesday. At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Warner joined former high-ranking military personnel and military analysts to stress that climate change […]
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Steven Chu and cap-and-snooze on the Daily Show
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivered a twofer last night with a bit of cap-and-trade commentary followed by an interview with “Dr. Nobel McGenius” — aka Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Stewart falls asleep out of boredom while trying to explain cap and trade, pretty much nailing what much of the political media seems to […]
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NAACP resolves to fight climate change
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrated its centennial last week by jumping into the policy debate over global warming. Delegates at the storied civil rights organization’s annual meeting in New York voted to adopt a resolution supporting clean energy development, curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, and policies to foster green collar […]
