Climate Politics

Ban on loaded firearms in national parks may be lifted

Photo: iStockphoto The Interior Department plans to revise regulations banning loaded guns in national parks, and park rangers and green groups are up in arms (figuratively, of course). Current rules, which require guns to be disarmed and stowed away within park boundaries, “are not unduly burdensome, but are limited, reasonable, and necessary,” says the president […]

Factory farms fight to avoid reporting on toxic emissions

This article in the WaPo shows yet again how insidious the agricultural lobby in this country is, and how we need leadership that will take it on. This time it's the factory farms fighting laws that mandate that they provide information on their emission of toxic gases (from animal waste).

Breaking the power of the agricultural lobby should be a top priority for the environmental community; at every turn it fights for corporate welfare and against environmental progress and the public good.

Clinton only candidate to appear at energy forum on Thurs.

The Greater Houston Partnership had planned a bigtime energy forum where all the presidential candidates would come and discuss America’s energy future. Only Clinton agreed to come. Despite that, it should be interesting. There will be lots of players from Big Oil & Gas there, and they want to hear about what they euphemistically call […]

Chris Dodd endorses Barack Obama for prez

Former presidential contender Chris Dodd has broken with the wait-and-see Democrats to endorse Barack Obama for president. Obama has been “poked and prodded, analyzed and criticized, called too green, too trusting, and for all of that has already won” a majority of states and votes, said Dodd. See what he did there, using the word […]

Dodd endorses Obama

Chris Dodd, the only significant presidential candidate to support a carbon tax, has endorsed Barack Obama. He also said he wouldn’t want to be VP … not that there was much danger of that.

Reid makes good point about coal with bad analogy about Hitler

Oy, this is frustrating. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave an extraordinary speech to open the Renewable Energy World Conference in Las Vegas. He talked up the opportunities of a green economy, laid out concrete policies for getting there, and blasted the coal industry for standing in the way. Unfortunately, just before the […]

Greenpeace takes Heathrow

Today, Greenpeace UK held a peaceful protest against the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport in London (the addition of a third runway). The activists managed to walk out onto the tarmac and up onto the tailfin of a plane, where they hung a huge banner: This effortless breach of security at one of the world’s […]

Governors are of varying minds when it comes to clean energy

At the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which concluded Monday, state leaders revisited a previously launched initiative called “Securing a Clean Energy Future” — and struggled with the reality that “clean energy” has very different meanings to different states. “Clean coal,” in particular, was boosted by coal states and eyed with skepticism […]

Notable quotable

“Anybody has the right to run for president if they file sufficient papers. The job of the Democratic Party is to be so compelling that a few percentage of the vote going to another candidate is not going to make any difference.” — Barack Obama, on Ralph Nader’s entry into the presidential race

Notable quotable

"After all, there’s not a dime’s worth of a difference between a candidate promising tax cuts, pushing more health risk onto individuals, a re-invigoration of George Bush’s campaign to dominate the world through military force, and an industry-friendly approach to environmental issues and his rival who’s promising substantial socialization of medical risk, a 80 percent […]