Climate Politics
All Stories
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‘Green empire’ like ‘military intelligence’
Sustainability is not compatible with empire.
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Direct and value-added marketing in the farm bill
This is the last installment of a five-part series of farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For additional information about the status of sustainable agriculture priorities in the House and Senate versions of the farm bill, please check out SAC's farm bill progress chart.
Farm Bill "conference" negotiations are underway at the staff level. Please call your Senators and Representative today and tell them what you want to see in the final Farm Bill!
Increasing consumer demand for healthy, sustainably-produced food and agricultural products from local and regional markets has great potential to improve farm income. However, tremendous challenges stand in the way of producers satisfying these consumer preferences, in part because federal policies and programs have been slow to respond.
A number of grassroots farmer and consumer organizations have been working to ensure that the final farm bill includes increased funding for direct market and value-added enterprise opportunities, and the removal of the prohibition on interstate sale of meat products processed in state-inspected plants. Greater federal support for these programs in the 2008 Farm Bill will help a larger number of consumers access good food and allow more producers to stay on the land.
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Clinton and Romney win in Nevada; McCain wins in South Carolina
Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama to win the Democratic caucuses in Nevada on Saturday, getting 51 percent of the vote compared to Obama’s 45 (and John Edwards‘ dismal 4). The economy was the top concern among Nevada voters surveyed, but the environment may have played a role too. Clinton tried to gain an edge in […]
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Your weekend in caucuses
CNN is calling Nevada for Clinton and Romney. South Carolina is still going, but early reports tell of a Huckabee surge. UPDATE: NYT sez of Nevada: Clinton 51, Obama 45, Edwards 4 (ouch); Romney 53, Paul 13, McCain 13, Thompson 8, Huckabee 8, Giuliani 5 (ouch). UPDATE: Buzz has it that Clinton won by overwhelming […]
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Coal front group pouring millions into targeted disinformation campaign
Speaking of reasons climate legislation is going to be impossible this year: It’s good to see the Washington Post pick up on the coal industry’s massive lobbying effort. The focus is Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), which we’ve discussed before. WaPo’s Steven Mufson uncovered a few details. Right now, ABEC is spending $1.3 million […]
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House energy committee not primed to rush through climate bill
John Dingell says getting climate legislation done this year will "verge on impossible" (sub rqd), what with the compressed schedule and the presidential and Congressional elections. Oh, and also because Republicans are gearing up to block progress yet again. A while back, Denny Hastert left Dingell’s committee and there was some inside baseball speculation about […]
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Coal lobbyists step up their game
A group called Americans for Balanced Energy Choices is waging a $35 million campaign urging Americans to make one choice in particular: coal. As U.S. activists step up their protests against coal plants — and find increasing success — the industry-backed ABEC is running ads chirping that the black rock “powers our way of life” […]
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Second ‘major economies meeting’ this month in Hawaii
You know, there’s something I don’t get about these kabuki “major economies meetings” Bush is holding. Obviously, in reality it’s about creating the illusion that Bush is doing something on climate. But usually when something is done purely for looks, there’s some sort of plausible cover story, a purported rationale that can be put out […]
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