Political Climate Articles
Watch: Climate Change's Impact on Your Region
Climate scientist Gerald Meehl explains how the latest findings affect you. (ABC News Now)
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US Energy Use Drops In 2008
ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2009) - Americans used more solar, nuclear, biomass and wind energy in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The nation used less coal and petroleum during the same time frame and only slightly increased its natural gas consumption. Geothermal energy use
remained the same.
The estimated U.S. energy use in 2008 equaled 99.2 quadrillion BTUs ("quads"), down from 101.5 quadrillion BTUs in 2007. (A BTU or British Thermal Unit is a unit of measurement for energy, and is
equivalent to about 1.055 kilojoules).
Energy use in the industrial and transportation sectors declined by 1.17 and 0.9 quads respectively, while commercial and residential use slightly climbed. The drop in transportation and industrial use
- which are both heavily dependent on petroleum - can be attributed to a spike in oil prices in summer 2008.
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Beck: "...almost everyone who does believe in global warming is a socialist"
Following Van Jones' resignation Saturday night, Glenn Beck has released a statement vowing to go after "other radicals in the administration."
What could be scarier than the nation's clean energy and climate policy being affected by uber-wingnut Glenn Beck. In a January attack on Obama's energy and environment adviser, Carol Browner,
Beck said on his national radio show:
It's just that almost everyone who does believe in global warming is a socialist. I mean, believes in manmade global warming that now can be fixed and reversed or whatever. And we've got the tools
to fix it. Almost everybody who says, "I've got a plan to fix it" is a socialist.
Yes, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse" - but if you understand the science of human-caused climate change or want to do something to stop it,
you're a socialist. Klein was right, Beck and his buddies are "nihilists."
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FOX News Agenda Laid Out
Having taken Van Jones down, the job destroyers and climate destroyers of the right wing most certainly smell blood (see Beck: "Almost everyone who does believe in global warming is a socialist").
Now Phil Kerpen, policy director for Americans for Prosperity, has laid out the right-wing strategy for how "the Van Jones affair could be an important turning point in the Obama administration," in a
piece on FOXNews.com. AFP is "pro-tobacco industry" group that "worked around the U.S. in recent years to defeat" smokefree workplace laws (as SourceWatch notes) - and is now fighting for the
big corporate polluters to block climate and clean energy action. Brad Johnson at WonkRoom has documented how Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a front group for billionaire polluters, pushing
the most inane pro-pollution ads you'll ever see (here).
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EPA to reject Texas air permit process
DALLAS - The air-pollution permitting process in the nation's largest greenhouse-gas producing state does not adhere to the Clean Air Act and portions of it should be thrown out, federal regulators
said Tuesday in an announcement applauded by Texas environmentalists.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed rejecting Texas' flexible permits, which allow polluters to exceed emission limits in particular areas so long as they reach an overall emissions average.
The EPA also said it plans to reject other rules, including those allowing polluters to make changes at facilities without the lengthy permitting process that requires public hearings.
"Texas' air permitting program should be transparent and understandable to the communities we serve, protective of air quality, and establish clear and consistent requirements," Lawrence Starfield,
the EPA's acting regional administrator for Texas, said in the statement. "These notices make clear our view that significant changes are necessary for compliance with the Clean Air Act."
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China could be $1 trillion a year market for green technologies, report says
SHANGHAI (AP) - China potentially could be a $500 billion to $1 trillion a year market for environmentally sustainable "green technologies," a group of businesses and experts said in a report
Thursday that urges governments to ease the way for such initiatives.
The report by the China Greentech Initiative, a group of more than 80 leading technology companies, non-governmental organizations and policy advisers, pinpointed opportunities from 300 potential
green technology options for China, spanning energy, water, buildings, transportation and industry.
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Another Company Leaves 'Mixed Messaging' Coal Alliance
Another member of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is leaving the coal-and-utility trade group, citing concerns about whether the alliance wants to obstruct legislation to cap
greenhouse gas emissions.
Alstom Power, a French company that makes parts for power plants and is working on carbon sequestration, said it is leaving ACCCE immediately.
"We have resigned from ACCCE because of questions that have been raised about ACCCE's support for climate legislation," said Tim Brown, an Alstom spokesman. The French company, which is
partnering with U.S. utilities on power-plant projects, said that it wants to "remove any doubt about our full support" for a climate bill.
The move comes less than a week after Duke Energy Corp. said it was withdrawing from ACCCE because of powerful members of the group that are unwilling to support climate legislation. Alstom's
decision also shrinks ACCCE's membership as the Senate returns and ACCCE lobbies the Senate on its version of climate legislation.
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Dirty coal group's 14th forgery impersonated American veterans.
Climate change is a major threat to U.S. Security. The clean air, clean water, clean energy jobs bill would enhance our security by reducing oil dependence and environmental harm. That's why the
conservative Virgina Republican, John Warner, is pushing hard to pass the bill - because he is a former Navy secretary and former Senate Armed Services Committee chair and because he is a
former Forest Service firefighter now "just absolutely heartbroken" because "the old forest, the white pine forest in which I worked, was absolutely gone, devastated, standing there dead from the bark
beetle" thanks in large part to global warming.
So it's no surprise the deniers and delayers spread disinformation to try to undercut this core message.
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EIA: Clean air, clean water, clean energy jobs bill would make America more energy independent, cutting U.S. foreign oil bill $650 billion
EIA: Clean air, clean water, clean energy jobs bill would make America more energy independent, cutting U.S. foreign oil bill $650 billion through 2030, saving $5,600 per household
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA's) recent analysis of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) includes the first government estimates of the legislation's impact directly
on oil imports. A number of models, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have determined that ACES would save significant amounts of oil, but EIA is the first to project the specific
impact on oil imports so that we can more directly assess the security and financial implications.
Overall oil imports would decline by 590,000 barrels per day by the year 2020 under ACES, according to EIA. This is roughly equivalent to the total amount of oil we imported from Iraq in 2008
(620,000 barrels per day). Over the next twenty years, America would save $650 billion on foreign oil (cumulatively through 2030). This is in constant 2007 dollars, and is calculated by applying EIA's
forecast of oil prices to EIA's projected savings in oil imports.
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The Greenest White House
Upon first entering the White House, President Obama expressed to Barbara Walters his intention to set an example for Americans on how to live more eco-friendly: "Each of us have a role to play in
not being wasteful when it comes to energy"?Part of what I want to do is to show the American people it's not that hard." The Obama family put those words into action very quickly from Michelle
Obama's organic herb and vegetable garden on the south lawn to the Obama girls' green swing-set made of recycled materials, shredded tires and nontoxic dyes.
The current first family isn't the first in the White House to implement energy-saving practices. In 1979 President Jimmy Carter had a $28,000 solar water heater installed on the roof of the West Wing,
and President George W. Bush installed a small photovoltaic system as well as two solar water heating systems. Obama, however, plans to earn a LEED certification to make the White House the
greenest it has ever been. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to measure and reward buildings
and communities that implement green building design, construction, operation, and maintenance.
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The Buzz On An Amazing New Mosquito Repellent: Will It Fly?
ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2009) - After searching for more than 50 years, scientists finally have discovered a number of new mosquito repellents that beat DEET, the gold standard for warding off
those pesky, sometimes disease-carrying insects. The stuff seems like a dream come true. It makes mosquitoes buzz off three times longer than DEET, the active ingredient in many of today's bug
repellents. It does not have the unpleasant odor of DEET. And it does not cause DEET's sticky-skin sensation.
Ulrich Bernier, Ph.D., lead researcher for the repellent study, said the costly, time-consuming pre-market testing and approval process is a hurdle that will delay availability of the repellents, which were
discovered last year.
Bernier and his team discovered the repellents with what they say is the first successful application of a computer model using the molecular structures of more than 30,000 chemical compounds
tested as repellents over the last 60 years. Using 11 known compounds, they synthesized 23 new ones. Of those, 10 gave about 40 days protection, compared to 17.5 days for DEET, when a soaked
cloth was worn by a human volunteer. When applied to the skin, however, DEET lasts about five hours.
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Radical, racist signs featured at 9/12 march on DC - and one vindicating my birther-denier link
Last month I noted "The top 5 ways the ‘birthers' are like the deniers." The above sign, from the 9/12 Project DC march on Washington, is worth those thousand words. Yesterday, countless right-wing
protesters were in DC, inspired by uber-extremist Glenn Beck and organized by Republican lobbyists. Tasteless wingnut signs, like ‘Bury Obamacare with Kennedy', were the norm. Think Progress
attended the rally and has much, much more in this repost:
This morning on ABC's Good Morning America, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) embraced the protesters at today's 9/12 March in Washington, DC, saying that he was "glad they're here to take back their
country." He characterized the attendees as nonpartisan, adding that "it's not about President Obama. It's not about the Democrats." Several other Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Price
(GA), Mike Pence (IN), Marsha Blackburn (T), and Phil Gingrey (GA) planned to attend and speak at the event.
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On Climate, Partners on Hill Drift Apart
McCain Largely Remains on Sidelines of Debate as Kerry Goes Full Throttle
As climate change reemerges as an issue in the national policy debate, it may help define the legislative legacies of two men who once vied for the White House: Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and
John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Both men have championed the issue of global warming for years, including when they served as their party's presidential nominees in 2004 and 2008, respectively. But, for the moment, McCain is
barely engaged in the issue beyond criticizing the climate bill passed by the House, while Kerry has emerged as one of the chamber's leading dealmakers. The fact that the two no longer appear to be
on the same side underscores the challenge Democrats face in enacting the first national cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
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Climate bill politics are heating up
Supporters of Obama's clean-energy plan say the issue is not just jobs. National security is at stake as well.
Reporting from Washington - After months of promoting President Obama's climate plan as a vehicle to create millions of clean-energy jobs, supporters of the legislation are increasingly pushing
another strategy -- its benefits for national security.
It's a deliberate, anxiety-themed effort to press a handful of fence-sitting moderates to support a bill that will probably be the administration's next great legislative push after healthcare.
A coalition backing the energy and climate bill pending before the Senate has enlisted war veterans to pressure senators in person.
In television advertisements, the coalition calls dependence on foreign oil a threat to national security and fuel for terrorists.
Other new ads feature pictures of angry Middle Eastern crowds and impoverished "climate refugees," many apparently African.
One recent poll from climate bill supporters tested voter opinions on the statement that global warming would "destabilize developing countries, creating the conditions for war and a breeding ground
for terrorism -- and lead to mass movements of people from places like Mexico and Central America that will overwhelm our borders."
The national poll by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman found voters agreed far more with that stance than with a statement echoing Republican arguments against the bill -- chiefly, that it would raise
energy prices and kill American jobs.
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Clean energy to create more jobs than coal: study
A strong shift toward renewable energies could create 2.7 million more jobs in power generation worldwide by 2030 than staying with dependence on fossil fuels would, a report suggested Monday.
The study, by environmental group Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), urged governments to agree a strong new United Nations pact to combat climate change in
December in Copenhagen, partly to safeguard employment.
"A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as
usual," the report said.
Governments were often wrong to fear that a shift to green energy was a threat to jobs, said Sven Teske, lead author of the report at Greenpeace. He said that the wind turbine industry was already the
second largest steel consumer in Germany after cars.
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Former Sen. John Warner discusses impact of climate change on national security
Today's OnPointWhat impact will climate change have on the United States' national security? Will the security issue gain traction as the Senate takes up climate legislation? During today's OnPoint,
former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) explains how the United States' security will be affected by climate change. Warner, who recently joined the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate,
discusses how Congress can address this issue in the legislation making its way through the Senate. He also gives his take on this year's climate debate.
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