Climate Politics
All Stories
-
Pielke, Tierney, Lomborg, and CEI diss Obama science adviser
[Please post your response to Tierney’s column here.] Science advisor pick John Holdren gets global warming. Although he is wildly overqualified for the job compared to anybody a GOP President has named in recent memory — heck, Holdren was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science — the deniers and delayers have […]
-
What Obama’s new science adviser has to say about climate change
Ben Smith digs up two pieces from Obama’s new science adviser, John Holdren. The first, from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, titled “The Sky Is Falling,” requires a subscription (though perhaps the title says enough). And here’s a piece titled “The Future of Climate Change Policy: The U.S.’s Last Chance to Lead,” from Scientific […]
-
Barbara Boxer wants AG to block EPA’s Johnson
Senate Environment and Public Works chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) is petitioning Attorney General Michael Mukasey to stop “renegade” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson’s recent decision on coal-fired power plants. Johnson decreed last week that power plants’ greenhouse-gas emissions shouldn’t be taken into consideration when determining whether to approve their construction, countering the EPA Appeals […]
-
Eco-activist bids up oil and gas leases at auction
At a federal auction for oil and gas leases in Utah last week, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher posed as a buyer, successfully bidding up lease prices on BLM land by hundreds of thousands of dollars and winning 13 parcels that he admits he can’t actually pay for. The BLM is giving the other (real) bidders […]
-
EPA requires cruise ships to get discharge permits for graywater
Compelled by court order, the U.S. EPA last week announced that cruise ships and a variety of other vessels will be required to seek permits for dumping certain kinds of waste into U.S. waters, including deck runoff, ballast water, and graywater from showers, sinks, and laundry machines. However, greens say the rules would allow cruise […]
-
Obama announces science advisers in his weekly radio address
Barack Obama announced his science and technology advisers in his weekly radio address on Saturday. The list includes Jane Lubchenco as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and John Holdren as his assistant for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “Whether it’s the science […]
-
Searching for the hope in Obama’s USDA pick
Is it too early to peel my Obama sticker off my car? I am more than disappointed by the President-elect’s nomination of Tom Vilsack for secretary of agriculture. But after some reflection, this dark cloud may have one ray of light coming through. During his remarks at the press conference announcing the choice of Vilsack, […]
-
For NOAA head, Obama appoints yet another scientist who gets climate
PEBO has picked Jane Lubchenco, a prominent marine biologist at Oregon State University, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science between 1997-98. A video of her talk on “Climate Change and its Implications for Oregon” can be found here. In “Obama […]
-
NYT weighs in on Vilsack pick
Again, I’m heartened to see media attention alight on the USDA, which until not long ago interested big-ag lobbyists, large-scale grain and cotton farmers, anti-hunger activists, and few others. The latest evidence: The New York Times editorial page has seen fit to comment on Obama’s choice of Tom Vilsack as USDA chief. "The department he […]
-
An Iowa sustainable-ag legend speaks on her experience with the former governor
This is a guest post by long-time Iowa organic farmer and food activist, Denise O’Brien, who narrowly lost a bid for the state’s secretary of agriculture post in 2006. —– The phones, emails, and blogs are abuzz with the Obama appointment of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as the new secretary of agriculture. On one […]
