Climate Politics
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Emissions of Kyoto signatory countries on the rise, U.N. says
Collectively, the 40 industrialized nations that agreed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol have met their goal of cutting emissions to an average of about 5 percent below 1990 levels, the United Nations reported this week. But some of the biggest reductions were due to economic declines in central and eastern European countries […]
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Obama names long-time Waxman aide as his assistant for legislative affairs
Over the weekend, the Obama transition team announced a few new key members of the White House staff, including Phil Schiliro, who will serve as assistant to the president for legislative affairs. This will be someone to watch, as Schiliro was a long-time aide to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has called for aggressive climate […]
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Obama won’t send delegation to Poland climate conference
President-elect Barack Obama will not attend the United Nations climate conference in Poland next month nor send a delegation on his behalf, the U.N. climate chief announced Monday. Many climate activists had high hopes that President Bush’s successor would attend the conference as a way to jumpstart the sluggish talks. Explaining his decision, Obama said, […]
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NYC announces new, voluntary plan to encourage hybrid taxis
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined a new, voluntary plan to encourage taxi-fleet owners to use hybrid vehicles after the city’s initial plan to dramatically increase taxi fuel-efficiency was struck down by a federal judge last month.
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International talks to save Atlantic tuna begin in Morocco
Representatives from some 46 nations are meeting this week in Morocco to try to hash out an agreement on stemming overfishing of imperiled bluefin tuna while still keeping the bluefin fishing industry alive. Experts say the sustainable catch limit in the Mediterranean Sea should be about 15,000 tons a year, but last year fleets caught […]
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Schwarzenegger bringing governors and international leaders to California to talk climate
On Tuesday and Wednesday, David and I will be in Los Angeles attending the Governors’ Global Climate Summit, hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The summit is bringing together governors (as the name suggests) and international leaders to talk about their programs to address climate change and energy concerns, in hopes of forging partnerships going forward. The […]
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Giant public-lands bill put on hold ’til next year
A bill that would protect millions of acres of public land is being put on hold until the new year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act passed out of committee with bipartisan support, but Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has threatened to filibuster over concerns that it will […]
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Obama and McCain make nice and possibly talk climate and energy
Obama and McCain got together this morning in Chicago for their first post-election meeting, in which they discussed what they could work on together going forward. As many noted prior to the meeting, it’s likely that climate change and energy concerns came up, as Obama had said on the campaign trail that these might be […]
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Will Democrats take the votes but ignore the voters in increasingly powerful Northern Virginia?
Northern Virginia voters solidified their reputation Nov. 4 as a virtual factory for Democratic victories. Collectively, the Virginia suburbs of D.C. broke for Obama in numbers exceeding 60 percent. The margin is comparable to such liberal bastions as California and New York. Given the results, and given that 1 in 3 Virginia voters now lives […]
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Obama talks energy on 60 Minutes
President-elect Obama was interviewed on 60 Minutes last night about the election and how he is preparing for the presidency. Obama noted early in the conversation that he’s “talking to top economic advisers about how we’re gonna create jobs, how we get the economy back on track and what do we do in terms of […]