Frankly, when people have said that Trump only ran for president to boost his business, I didn’t agree. I think Donald is genuinely an old, angry, rich, white man who spends far too much time sitting on the couch watching Fox News and getting misinformed. I think he genuinely felt passionately that the country had gone to
Last week something rare and extraordinarily positive occurred on American television. Fortunately, through YouTube and 350.org, the rest of the world got to see it too. “Something positive?” a critic questions. “If climate change is as bad as you tree-hugger people claim it is, how can anything about it be positive?” The phenomenon tends to
You have to give it to the White House on this one — in response to absurd media reports regarding the polar vortex, extreme cold in the US, and global warming, the White House has published a video explaining the polar vortex and explaining how the polar vortex is actually related to global warming. By
Following weeks of Obama railing on the $4 billion a year oil companies receive in tax breaks, in the midst of record profits and after about a century of tax breaks and subsidies, the White House put in one strong push today to try to cut those oil subsidies. Here’s a post from the
If you look at one or two segments of the Obama administration’s work — clean energy and energy efficiency — he looks like a total green leader. And as someone who covers those sectors for a living over on CleanTechnica, I can say that I am tremendously grateful for the great work the administration
The White House, and the U.S., and the world, saw the largest Keystone XL Tar Sands pipeline protest to date yesterday. Over 10,000 people (over 12,000 by some estimates) came out in opposition to the pipeline. The protesters were largely Obama supporters and came out decked in Obama gear to show him that they
The civic momentum to stop the Tar Sands Keystone XL pipeline continues to grow. Today, thousands of people got out and encircled the White House to show their solidarity in opposition to this train-wreck of a project. If you don’t know much about the the Tar Sands Keystone XL pipeline and are just tuning in
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-RI) 23-minute speech calling out the heads-in-the-sand Washington leaders last week may have been the speech of the week (or month.. or year.. or decade). If you haven’t already, you can watch it above. If you prefer text, someone over at the Center for American Progress created the full transcript:
Dear friends —
When we started our campaign to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, we knew the odds were long.
We knew that oil companies had a stranglehold on the political process, that the other side had more lobbyists and money than we could ever dream of. We knew that most analysts and pundits considered the approval of the pipeline to be a foregone conclusion. In short, we knew that we might well lose this fight — and we knew that we had to fight it anyway.
We are all a movement for change for the better, whether that be towards a sustainable future, or whether it’s towards ending corporate rule over our economy. We must stand together for change, change that happens, change that makes sense, change that is in our hands, not in the hands of the 1% and not in the hands of people who put religion and their personal morals over our freedom.
By Bill McKibben
Dear Friends,
The last two weeks have been spectacular.
In Washington DC, phase one of the tar sands campaign has just come to an end, and 1,252 North Americans have been arrested in a massive civil disobedience campaign. This historic groundswell was focused on stopping the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline — but it also sent a larger message that people everywhere are willing to take bold action to move our planet beyond fossil fuels.
In a surprise move on Friday, President Obama ordered the EPA to withdraw its proposed regulation to tighten ground level ozone standards. Seen as yet another retreat from the president, the decision brought claims of victory from his GOP and industry rivals, and quick rebuke from his supporters and environmental watchdog groups.
On September 3rd, hundreds of people gathered in Lafayette Park for the final day of the rally against the Tar Sands at the end of the two week sit down protest at the White House. An estimated 1252 people were arrested during this two week continuous peaceful protest, making it the largest collective act of Civil Disobedience in the U.S. in decades.
Check out these top tar sands activism stories, followed by the most recent email from 350.org on this topic and more activism news:
Climate change and tar sands activism continued at the White House today, with actress and activist Daryl Hannah (also covered by Think Progress), Greenpeace USA executive director Phil Radford, and more getting arrested.
Another big environmental activism story of the day was a letter from Tim DeChristopher from prison.
The stream of activists willing to get arrested in front of the White House to try to block the development of the Tar Sands XL pipeline in the U.S. continues to flow strong. Today, over 140 activists were arrested, including top NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen.
Here’s a full repost from Climate Progress by leading climate activist Mike Tidwell, who I had the pleasure of meeting a few years ago when I lived in Virginia. It’s on how activists overwhelmed the authority figures trying to squash their efforts at justice. Enjoy. Following the repost are other top activism stories of the day.
A 6.0 earthquake shook far beyond its epi-center in Mineral, Virginia; shaking was felt from as far north as Rhode Island, New York and as far south as Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Starting at approximately 1:51 PM at the epi-center 3.7 miles beneath the surface, reports are varying as to how long the quake lasted; best estimates are only a few seconds.
A recent exposing of government emails between White House, USDA officials and Agribusiness industry executives, reveals the on-going planting of GE crops in over 50 wild life refuges throughout the U.S. The rationale for this effort — as described in the emails – is “habitat restoration” where Roundup ready crops are being allowed to grow so as to prevent invasive weed growth and rebuild lost vegetation cover, presumably. Many conservation and environmental groups doubt that this policy reflects “sound land management practices” and worry that it is in fact a dangerous ecological experiment. Some critics assert that it is part of a broader public relations campaign for the bio-tech crop industry on behalf of the present administration.
Easter is right around the corner and the White House has released its official souvenir eggs in anticipation of the upcoming Easter Egg Roll, with environmentally friendly eggs.
Some of the top clean energy, clean transport, and green living stories of the last day or so: Clean Energy China’s Green Economy Leadership “China sees green as the future engine of its economy. Although currently the world’s leading greenhouse gas emitter, China is serious about slowing greenhouse gas emissions and using renewable energy.” Green Jobs, Good
Here’s some of the biggest global warming and environmental politics news and commentary from the last week or so, along with some fun cartoons. Rocket Fuel in Our Water? The inspiration for the cartoon above, among other things: information that there is rocket fuel (or a component of it) in water supplies across the U.S.
Here’s our roundup of interesting (good & bad) environmental and wildlife news of the week, other than what we’ve covered already. White House: Polar Bears Not ‘Endangered’ The Obama administration is sticking with a George W. Bush-era decision to deny polar bears endangered species status. In a court filing Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service
Climate change has fallen off the table in U.S. politics, very unfortunately since climate change is still one of the world’s biggest issues (when we are talking about the issue of human livability, the future of life on this planet, and such things). On Friday, David Corn of Politics Daily wrote: “This week, as the
Last week news surfaced that several raccoons had been seen repeatedly in areas around the White House grounds. Humane traps have been set to capture them, and if caught, the fuzzy-looking bandits will be released in a forested area by the National Park Service. [social_buttons] Forget the need for economic stimulus, Barack, can you come
Soon-to-be-President Barack Obama has appointed animal advocate Cass Sunstein to head the relatively obscure, yet powerful Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The regulatory czar, as the position is generally called, is responsible for every regulatory agency in the country, such as the EPA, and will oversee all administration rules. Sunstein is best known for
