Climate Politics

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  • Big Ag aims its pitchfork at historic climate legislation

    Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / GristLike a tractor inching through a wet field, the Waxman-Markey climate legislation slowed to a crawl last week, on the verge of getting stuck. The bill’s authors still have to deal with plenty of mud, but it’s now looking like they will get a vote by Friday of this […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • White House refuses to disclose information on meetings with coal executives

    Is the White House taking a page from Dick Cheney’s playbook by refusing to disclose who’s visiting the West Wing to lobby on energy and climate issues? Much like the preceding administration, Team Obama is fighting to keep White House visitor logs secret. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonpartisan watchdog group, […]

    Kate Sheppard Politics

  • What will the U.S. and other major economies commit to?

    I am outside of Mexico City with delegates from the world’s 17 biggest economies who are meeting this week ahead of the next G8 meeting to further negotiate international climate agreements. Issues on the table include funding for forest protection, mid-term and long-term emission reduction targets, and financing for adaption and mitigation. The outcomes from […]

    Daniel Kessler Politics

  • Climate activists to descend on House cafeteria on Tuesday

    A side of flashmob with your lunch? An unnamed group of climate activists is planning to descend on one of the larger Capitol Hill cafeterias on Tuesday to call for strengthening the American Clean Energy and Security Act. They’re using Craigslist to gather supporters. Here’s the ad: Dear DC-ite. Your presence is requested on Tuesday, […]

    Kate Sheppard Politics

  • Food safety in the 21st century

    Just when America thought it was safe to go back into the grocery store, another food outbreak wakes us up to the fact that there is something seriously wrong with its food safety system. This time it’s Nestle Toll House cookie dough with E.coli, a treat that nearly every kid in America reaches for a […]

    Dave Murphy Politics

  • In first week of wide release, ‘Food Inc.’ gets boost from NYT pundit

    Amid Food Inc.’s first weekend in nationwide release, the hard-hitting food-system exposé got a boost from NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof. (I’ll be reviewing the film later this week.) Declared the pundit in his widely read Sunday column: A terrific new documentary, “Food, Inc.,” playing in cinemas nationwide, offers a powerful and largely persuasive diagnosis of […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • 350 vs. 450: The heart of the matter

    There has never been a civic dispute as precisely quantified as climate. Most U.S. environmental organizations endorse the Waxman-Markey climate bill with the stated goal of keeping atmospheric greenhouse gases below 450 parts per million. The conservative position enunciated by Jim Hansen, advanced by Bill McKibben and 350.org, and endorsed by a handful of climate […]

    Ken Ward Politics

  • 20 climate experts call for aggressive U.S. action

    A group of 20 U.S. climate scientists and experts sent an open letter to President Obama and members of Congress on Monday calling for aggressive action on climate change. The scientists say that the American Clean Energy and Security Act under discussion in the House marks a “powerful advance and must be enacted this year,” […]

    Kate Sheppard Politics

  • DeFazio lambasts cap-and-trade

    Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) made one thing clear on Friday: he’s just not that into the cap-and-trade legislation under debate in the House. Peter DeFazio was first elected to the House in 1986. He represents Oregon’s 4th district in the southwestern part of the state.Courtesy Rep. DeFazioIn a speech in Portland, DeFazio decried the focus […]

    Kate Sheppard Politics

  • U.S. is starting to make a down payment on funding international climate change efforts

    This past Wednesday (June 17, 2009) the Appropriations Subcommittee of the House of Representatives that has jurisdiction over the international global warming pieces of President Obama’s budget passed a bill that supported increasing US commitments to these needed efforts. The funding will make a “down payment” in helping developing countries deploy clean energy, reduce global […]

    Jake Schmidt Politics