Climate Politics

EPA chief picks Center for American Progress fellow Bob Sussman as climate adviser

Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Robert Sussman is heading to the Environmental Protection Agency to serve as senior policy counsel to Administrator Lisa Jackson on climate change and other environmental issues. Sussman served on the EPA transition team with Jackson. This will be his second stint at the EPA; he was deputy administrator under […]

Whose idiocy is worse?

Here's an exchange from Obama's interview on CBS the other night:

Couric: Sen. Mitch McConnell said over the weekend that surely you're privately embarrassed by some of the product that came out of the house version and let me just mention some of the spending in this package: $6.2 billion for home weatherization, $100 million for children to learn green construction, $50 million for port modernization water and wastewater infrastructure needs in Guam, $50 million for the NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts. Even if some of these are a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars, Mr. President, why are they included in this bill designed to jumpstart the economy and create jobs right now?

Obama: Lets take that example. I'm stunned that Mitch McConnell use this as an example.

Couric: We actually got these examples, so you can't necessarily blame him

Question: Which would be worse, that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell thought those were hi-larious examples of non-job-creating uses of public money ... or that a major news organization like CBS thought so?

Discuss.

Obama's answer beneath the fold:

Former veep to rally climate change activists

Al Gore is stepping up his efforts to train an army of climate change activists. The Climate Project, the grassroots activist group Gore started in 2006, today announced it will gather several thousand volunteers in Nashville this May to prepare a new push to persuade lawmakers to pass significant climate legislation this year. The group […]

Senate centrists eye cuts to green items in stimulus bill

The Senate is currently voting on proposed amendments to the economic stimulus bill. The one amendment everyone has their eye on is an offering from centrist senators Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) that could cut as much as $100 billion in spending, including a large chuck of green funding. TPM has a draft […]

America’s largest labor federation announces green jobs program

Some actual news from the green jobs conference this morning: the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the largest federation of unions in the country, announced that it is forming a new Center for Green Jobs at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. The center will focus on helping unions, employers and government […]

Announcing energy efficiency order, Obama goes on stimulus attack

President Obama today used a visit to the Department of Energy to blast Republican opposition to energy efficiency measures contained in the economic stimulus legislation. Obama, who was at DOE to sign a memorandum [PDF] ordering the department to set new energy efficiency standards for appliances, rebutted GOP complaints about a proposal to use some […]

Senate panel to (finally) vote on Solis confirmation

Since I’m over here at the Green Jobs, Good Jobs summit, perhaps I should post on one of the top green jobs questions on everyone’s mind here: When is the Senate going to finally get around to confirming Obama’s green-jobs-promoting nominee for Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis? There has been an anonymous hold on her nomination […]

Bipartisan duo introduce renewable-electricity-standard bill in House

Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.) on Wednesday introduced legislation in the House to create a federal renewable electricity standard (RES) that would require the United States to draw a quarter of its electricity from clean sources by 2025. Markey also introduced a second bill that would require the country to reduce energy […]

NWF VP believes we'll see a cap-and-trade bill this year, and 'Waltzing Matilda' isn't about dancing

First, one of my favorite tunes, "Waltzing Matilda," has nothing to do with dancing.

Second, somebody out there thinks Congress might actually put a climate bill on Obama's desk this year.

First things first. So I'm singing to my daughter, reworking the lyrics to the "the unofficial national anthem of Australia," to distract her from her quest to watch videos on my PC, and she cleverly asks to see a "Waltzing Matilda video." And this is what I find on YouTube:

Turns out the song is about an Australian hobo, who gives the name Matilda to his swag -- his "bed roll that bundled his belongings." Turns out "waltzing Matilda" is slang for traveling with all one's belongings on one's back.

Given where Australia is headed -- "Australia faces collapse as climate change kicks in" -- and for how long (if we don't act soon and strongly to stop it) -- Climate change "largely irreversible for 1,000 years," with permanent Dust Bowls around the globe -- I'm now thinking that Waltzing Matilda will eventually be the official national anthem of Australia. But I digress.

So who is this mystery person who thinks we are on the fast track for climate action?

Ashley Judd and Defenders of Wildlife want you to know that Sarah Palin still hates wolves

Ashley Judd (yes, that Ashley Judd) and Defenders of Wildlife would like you to know that even though Sarah Palin is no longer running for vice president, she still hates critters. They’ve launched a new campaign and website, Eye On Palin, that decries her “anti-wolf, anti-wildlife” agenda. Here’s their new YouTube video: