Politics

The climate leadership of President Obama warrents our thanks and our praise. The historic significance of his June 25, 2013 Georgetown University address cannot be overstated. Despite Republican obstructionism, the President has taken a bold step forward leading America and the world in the battle against climate change. The Climate Reality Project is amongst those who are applauding President Obama's leadership in providing a plan to mitigate the major contributing factors to climate change. They have organized a campaign to Thank the President for putting America on the road to cutting carbon pollution. As explained in a mailing from the...

June 25th, 2013 will be remembered by history as the day America committed itself to act domestically and lead globally on climate change. On this day the President delivered an unprecedented speech at Georgetown University. The President unveiled his new climate change strategy which involves mitigation, adaptation and building resilience. Specifically the President has vowed to reduce emissions from exisiting coal-fired power plants and transportation, increase renewable energy, enhance efficiency and prepare communities for the impacts of climate change. Climate change impacts will now be factored into every governmental decision. This will have far reaching implications for the conduct of...

On June 25th 2013, US President Barack Obama unveiled his national climate change mitigation strategy which includes mandated emissions reduction from coal plants and transportation and people's homes. The federal government's mitigation strategy aims to reduce emissions of three major greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon dioxide (Co2), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and methane (CH4). One of the chief provisions of the plan involves reducing allowable emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. The White House indicated that 8 billion dollars will be set aside in loan guarantees to help power plants reduce their emissions. Cutting emissions at US coal-fired power plants will have a...

Prior to the announcement of the national climate mitigation strategy on June 25th, the Obama administration launched its National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants (NFWP) Climate Adaptation Strategy. The national climate change adaptation strategy was released on March 26th, three months ahead of the mitigation strategy. It focuses on resiliency in the face of climate change. The NFWP strategy “provides a unified approach – reflecting shared principles and science-based practices – for reducing the negative impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, plants, and the natural system upon which they depend.” The strategy took two years and employs the expertise at...

US President Barack Obama appears to be ready to make good on his promise to address climate change. As reported in the Guardian, the President will unveil a national climate change plan on Tuesday, June 25. In a video posted on the White House web site on Saturday, the US president made it clear that he understands that climate change is the challenge of a generation. He is expected to outline his plans to tackle climate change in a speech he will be delivering at Georgetown University. This will include "a national plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country...

This interview by Jason Mark was originally published in the Earth Island Journal. __________________________________ “The arc of the moral universe is long,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “but it bends toward justice.” That famous line could also serve as an apt description for the comeback of Van Jones. In 2009, the veteran social justice and environmental activist was hounded out of his White House job by right wing loudmouth Glenn Beck. “A high tech lynching,” is how one commentator described the concocted controversy that led Jones to resign his post as special advisor for green jobs. Fast-forward four years, and Jones remains...

President Obama has vowed that in the absence of congressional action, he will use his executive privileges to combat climate change. Some who are seeking a pretext to discredit the President have suggested that he is ruling by executive orders (EOs). However, President Obama has signed fewer EOs in his first four years in office than most of his predecessors. Executive orders are issued by the President of the United States to manage the operations of the Federal Government. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama indicated that while he wants to work with Congress, he is...

President Barack Obama wants to create a $2 billion clean-energy research fund with fees paid by oil and gas producers to help lower US dependence on oil. The President has urged Congress to support the $2 billion fund which would fuel cutting edge clean energy research projects, While the trust will focus on transportation, it will support research into a variety of fuels and technologies. President Obama has already deployed billions of dollars for major cutting-edge clean tech research projects, so the $2 billion over ten years is not an astronomical figure. However, it does suggest that the President is...

President Barack Obama is resurrected the ghost of former Republican President Richard Nixon to move forward on the environment. The President is about to set guidelines that require all federal agencies to consider the environmental impacts of major projects. With this move President Obama will make good on his State of the Union promise to act alone if Republicans continue their obstructionist course on environmental issues. The new standards are being reviewed by the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The bold new move by the White House was covered in a March 15th Bloomberg report. The guidelines will...

Obama announced his choice to lead the White House budget office. As expected, Obama selected Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the president of the Walmart Foundation, (the charitable group). She worked for a long time at the Gates Foundation at a high level. She has also worked extensively in the Clinton administration. Burwell worked on the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign in 1992, she became staff director for the National Economic Council under Robert Rubin, she followed Rubin to Treasury where she was his chief of staff before working as as deputy chief of staff under Erskine Bowles, and then she was deputy director...