Climate Politics

Kerry to make climate a top priority for Foreign Relations panel

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) wasn’t on the Democratic ticket this year, but he’s set to gain some additional influence in Washington thanks to the Obama-Biden victory. With Biden leaving the Senate for the vice presidency, Kerry will become the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and today he told reporters that climate change will […]

Enviro coalition delivers a whopping transition plan to Obamaland

Twenty-nine of the country’s biggest green groups today rolled out a comprehensive list of actions and policies they’d like President-elect Barack Obama to adopt after he takes office Jan. 20. In it, the groups stress the need for an approach that unites environment, energy, and economic policies. “We need to dig ourselves out of the […]

Bush exculpates bald eagle killer, others in first round of pardons

And the pardons have officially begun … On Monday, President Bush granted pardons to 14 people and shortened the prison terms of another two, which will probably be the first round of many. No big names on the list, but three are of interest for environmental reasons, including: • Daniel Figh Pue III, of Conroe, […]

Wolves in the Rockies

A video about keeping wolves protected under the Endangered Species Act: If you’re interested in doing something — insofar as signing an online petition is doing something — NRDC Action Fund has a petition you can sign here.

How to change USDA with sustainable agriculture allies

In a recent post, I discussed likely candidates for secretary of agriculture in the Obama administration and encouraged you to voice your support or dislike of the names being floated to Obama’s transition team. You can have an impact: in large numbers, voices of the people are very powerful. Please continue to make your opinions […]

The stimulus train’s a-comin’

Summers receieves flack for his tactless pollution-control memo as VP of World Bank in 1991

As Christopher Robin pulls us down the stairs towards climate chaos — bump! bump! bump! — we might think that there’s something else we could do, if only we could stop bumping for a moment and think about it. That relentless slam to the back of the head is called economics, and it’s used to […]

Vilsack out; Peterson and Herseth Sandlin square off

Until very recently, speculation around who would take the top spot at Obama’s USDA centered on former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, a champion of both genetically modified seed technology and farm-subsidy reform. But now Vilsack’s out of the running, the Des Moines Register reports. Evidently, a petition from the Organic Consumers Association helped sink his […]

Obama’s new director of domestic policy on a progressive energy agenda

Obama’s new director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Melody Barnes, is likely to focus a lot of her work on health care and education. But she’s also written a bit about what a progressive president should do on energy. While she was the executive vice president for policy at the Center for American […]

Hansen wants the skeptics thrown in jail–Did James Hansen really want to try the climate skeptics?

(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide)   Objection: In his June 23, 2008 testimony before the United States Congress, James Hansen called for the punishment of climate change skeptics for “crimes against humanity.” This is a mockery of free speech, the antithesis of scientific investigation, and a clear indication that […]