Barack Obama
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Up with people: What is Obama doing about our cities’ chronic problems?
Puffy ideas from the creative class are not going to solve urban America’s stickiest problems of subpar education, poverty, and mass imprisonment. To do that, we’ll need hard-nosed solutions and strong leadership from the top. How is the president doing?
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Keystone XL decision is a big win — for now
The State Department and the president denied the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. This is a big win for activists, but the fight against Big Oil continues.
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President Obama and the forgotten urban agenda
Obama came to the White House promising new energy and resources for American cities. Has he lived up to that promise? And anyway, who’s paying attention?
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Time to be angry, not cynical, about corporate money in politics
We're unfazed by things that should shake us to the core, like how Big Oil pays Congress to do its bidding. We need to get naïvely angry again.
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Why Isn't There a More Massive, Activist Climate Movement?
Eight years ago I decided that I needed to change my life. The reason? The late summer heat wave which hit Western Europe in August, 2003, leading to 30,000 or more deaths. I knew about the issue of global warming before 2003. Indeed, in 2002, during a Green Party of New Jersey campaign for […]
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As Keystone XL victory looms, a ‘top enviro’ games out how to lose
Some guys just don’t know how to win gracefully.Over at Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell has a piece gaming out scenarios for the Keystone XL pipeline. It’s worth a read. Just to briefly recap: There was a cut in payroll taxes. It was set to expire at the end of the year, thus raising taxes on […]
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Can Obama go back to political base(ics)?
An Obama 2012 rally in Chicago in April.Photo: Barack ObamaCross-posted from the Great Energy Challenge blog. President Obama made a smart move this month by putting the Keystone XL pipeline project into the deep freeze. It had been poor politics for him — and it would have been even worse policy for the country, especially when you consider […]
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What the Keystone XL delay means for tar sands and the green movement
The Obama administration announced late last week that the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline is going to be reassessed and possibly rerouted, delaying the final decision on its fate until after the election. The coalition that fought the pipeline — enviros, indigenous communities, Nebraska farmers, etc. — is, naturally, over the moon. (See Bill McKibben here […]
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Ring around the White House: Scenes from the Keystone protest [VIDEO]
Thousands of protesters encircled the White House Sunday, calling on President Obama to block the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that would run from the tar sands of Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Watch video of the protest: