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Politics
For all of us “green” nerds who are fascinated by the politics of climate change, not to mention all those Democratic candidates for President, the Yale Program on Climate Communications has a great data visualization site that will provide endless hours of entertainment. Check out their partisan climate opinion survey results for 2018, and the […]
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Senator Bernie Sanders threw his hat into the ring yesterday for the Democratic nomination, and he turned to climate change about halfway through his launch video, saying that he is “running for President because we need to make policy decisions based on science, not politics. We need a President who understands that climate change is real, is an existential threat to our country and the entire planet, and that we can generate massive job creation by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”
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Reuters reported yesterday that the Trump Administration had planned to open a new detention center at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas to house up to 7,500 unaccompanied migrant children, but the site may not be safe. Earthjustice issued a report yesterday in which it raised concerns with this site because the organization has identified fouSuperfund sites on base in proximity to the proposed housing site, including a former landfill, artillery range, fuel depot, and fire training areas. While some areas have been cleaned up not all have been remediated, thus Earthjustice argues in the report that more extensive testing is warranted to ensure the site is safe because the clean up may not have been sufficient to house children there.
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During Monday night’s rally in El Paso, TX President Trump railed against the Green New Deal resolution that was introduced by Congressional Democrats last week saying that it “sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark.”
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At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) announced the release of a highly anticipated resolution outlining the ideas behind a Green New Deal. Senator Markey opened the presser by saying that “when we talk about a Green New Deal we are talking about jobs and justice” going on […]
Continue Reading 607 wordsYesterday both the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change as well as the Natural Resources Committee held hearings to address climate change, which was the first time in nearly a decade that members of the House discussed and acknowledged the issue.
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As expected, President Trump made no mention of climate change in last night’s State of the Union Address despite touting national security as a major priority–even the Pentagon has deemed climate change an immediate risk to national security. The President did take a moment to point out America’s production of oil and gas as a national point […]
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By Daniel C. Esty Two weeks ago, at the memorial service to President George H.W. Bush, his eulogists celebrated the extraordinary things accomplished during his Presidency on a bipartisan basis – including the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, a crime bill, the 1991 Civil Rights Act, […]
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The Trump Administration did the expected and yesterday nominated Acting Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt, a former oil industry lobbyist and the top lawyer at Interior under Bush ’43 to take the top slot and officially replace Ryan Zinke. Most industry experts expect that he will continue to push for expanding oil and gas drilling, […]
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Last Friday New Jersey Senator Cory Booker (D) announced his campaign for president. Booker, who is one of only 3 sitting African American senators, made his announcement on the first day of Black History Month likely as a symbol of his commitment to racial justice. The senator specifically has been outspoken on the issue of […]
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Yesterday, 30,000 school children again turned out for protests in three cities across Belgium after an open letter to the government from 3,450 Belgian scientists saying “the activists are absolutely right”. Children’s climate rallies and protests are spreading across Europe — taking place in Germany and Switzerland too with the #FridaysForFuture, according to the BBC. There was even a sit-in at the Scottish Parliament.
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Endorsing the Green New Deal is becoming a talisman of politics in the 2020 Presidential race on the Democratic side. The Washington Post’s Power Post pointed out that this is a policy that almost no one had heard of last November but is now one of the key planks that appears to have nearly unilateral support.
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