FEATURE
Brazil, South Africa, India and China Want Legally Binding Outcome by 2011
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/28/2010 02:46:00 PM
Labels: China, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Jake Schmidt, NRDC
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
FEATURE
People's Climate Stewardship Act
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/25/2010 10:27:00 PM
Labels: Climate Change, Environment, GISS, Global Warming, James Hansen, NASA
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
FEATURE
Earth Day 2011
April 22nd is Earth Day. This year, Earth Day's theme is themed after A Billion Acts of Green: the Earth Day Network's people-powered campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy.
The first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network (EDN) works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world.
To find local activities and to learn more, visit the Earth Day Network.
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/21/2010 11:59:00 PM
Labels: Activism, Climate Change, Earth Day, Environment, Global Warming
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
Earth Day 2010
Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make personal commitments to sustainability. Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day."
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/21/2010 11:39:00 PM
Labels: Climate Change, Earth Day, Environment, Global Warming
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
NASA's New Eye on the Sun
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/21/2010 02:02:00 PM
Labels: GISS, NASA, Science, SDO
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
FEATURE
Koch Industries' Unsolicited Emails: More questions than answers
On April 6, 2010, I received a request for a correction from Koch Industries regarding their involvement with Dick Armey; a request that began with the representative's claim of Koch Industries' "environmental stewardship."
1. Is AFP, as seemingly implied in Lee Fang's [Think Progress] article, planning to challenge any town hall meetings, representatives or legislators over upcoming climate legislation in the manner as was observed during last summer's town hall meetings on the health care debate?
2. Is Koch Industries, as stated in Fang's article, "the largest funder of climate science denying organizations in the world" and, whether that is true or not, what is Koch Industries' position on climate change?
3. Does Koch Industries have a position on the threats of violence that have become a risk with an incited population?
4. Is Koch Industries either working with and/or interested in working with the current administration to find the best way for both business and the environment to succeed? If so, what initiatives have been proposed and/or undertaken? If not, what would you like to see happen?
The representative replied that that Koch would get back to me. I await further communication.
This exchange became all the more interesting after Rachel Maddow's April 15th report that Talking Points Memo had received an unsolicited email from Koch Industries (a different representative from the one who had contacted me) claiming no affiliation with Tea Parties (from the TPM report) (a claim that Koch has since withdrawn). Continued...
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/19/2010 04:19:00 PM
Labels: Climate Change, DICK ARMEY, Environment, KOCH INDUSTRIES, RACHEL MADDOW, TALKING POINTS MEMO, Tea Party Movement
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
Obama's Second Chance on the Predominant Moral Issue of this Century

The predominant moral issue of the 21st century, almost surely, will be climate change, comparable to Nazism faced by Churchill in the 20th century and slavery faced by Lincoln in the 19th century. Our fossil fuel addiction, if unabated, threatens our children and grandchildren, and most species on the planet.
Yet the president, addressing climate in the State of the Union, was at his good-guy worst, leading with "I know that there are those who disagree..." with the scientific evidence. This weak entrée, almost legitimizing denialists, was predictably greeted by cheers and hoots from well-oiled coal-fired Congressmen. The president was embarrassed and his supporters cringed.
Continued...
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/19/2010 01:40:00 PM
Labels: Barack Obama, Climate Change, Environment, GISS, Global Warming, James Hansen, Politics
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
FEATURE
Hollywood's Fix for America's Three and a Half Trillion-Dollar Lobbying Addiction

The United States of America has a dirty little secret. We're addicted to a drug. A drug dealt everyday in the halls of Congress, on the streets of Washington and at the exclusive Georgetown soirees. That drug is corruption, pure and simple. And the dealers are lobbyists. The year 2009 was record breaking for the lobbying industry, mostly due to the health care debate, with total spending on all issues at more than $3.47 billion.
Last year, nearly $545 million was spent just on health care. It would sound fabulous if it actually went to caring for people's health. Except it was spent on health care industrylobbyists, whose expensive words and promises were thrown all around Washington. Not a penny was spent on the 56-year-old retired schoolteacher, Lorraine O'Malley's chemotherapy bill. Or 20-year-old college student John Bamberger's emergency appendectomy. Or Karen Toolin's medical costs after a terrible car accident following her layoff from a company she was loyal to for 23 years.
Recently, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the proposed health care plan will cost the United States $94 billion a year over ten years, will reduce the deficit by $138 billion over that time and extend coverage to 32 million more Americans.
The PR agencies hired by the health care industry told conservative lawmakers that reform will put our country further into debt. Then the conservative lawmakers spewed this message to American people. Are we to presume that the same groups that spend $545 million on health care talk are concerned with the cost of this health care bill?
Americans are so conditioned to hearing "billions and trillions of dollars" spent on "Operation This" and "Operation That" and the unfathomable amount of money we owe China, that when we hear about $545 million being wasted on words, it's easy to blink once and change the channel. Continued...
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/17/2010 03:27:00 PM
Labels: Alliance Hollywood, Commentary, Environment, Health Care Reform, Hollywood, Lobbying, Nomiki Konst, Politics
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
The President’s Power Tools
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/17/2010 02:33:00 PM
Labels: Barack Obama, Bill Becker, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, PCAP, Politics
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
FEATURE
About those offshore rigs
It is about the climate. Not the long-term trends of weather and geophysics, but the political and factional climate currently in our country, since there can be no argument a storm is brewing come November that could make last August look like a picnic.
How is a president to deal with climate legislation in such a poisonous atmosphere? The rigs give a clue. Offshore drilling on the locations he cited could take years to put in place and longer to see results. By that time, if we're not getting our energy from alternative sources, those rigs will be the least of our problems.
The "drill-baby-drill" mantra, however, despite the evidence to the contrary of the advantage it would provide, has become a talking point that flares whenever gas prices rise -- gas prices that rise in the summer also rise in conjunction with election cycles.
Is it possible that certain industries might not want democrats reelected to the slim majorities they now hold?
With the initiatives President Obama will be put through on energy in the next few months, as evidenced by the new fuel standards set the other day and with the climate legislation that is coming up this summer, he faces an easy (for his opponents) talking point (among many) with drill-baby-drill.
Do you remember last summer? The demonstrations and town halls that turned into hate-fests? Behind many of those who protested was a group, Americans for Prosperity, that is run by the former Rep. Dick Armey. That has received some publicity. What had not been widely publicized is Armey's connection to one of world's biggest polluters, Koch Industries... Continued...
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/02/2010 02:56:00 PM
Labels: AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY, Barack Obama, Climate Change, DICK ARMEY, Environment, Global Warming, KOCH INDUSTRIES, Oil, Politics
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)
That Acrid Smell in the Air
Posted by
The Environmentalist
at
4/02/2010 01:37:00 PM
Labels: Commentary, Health Care Reform, Militia Movement, Oklahoma City Bombing, Politics, Responsibility, Sarah Palin, Sherman Yellen, Tea Party Movement, Timothy McVeigh
SUBSCRIBE TO: POSTS (RSS)