Despite the failed attempts to pass sweeping climate change legislation, President Obama said he would would be willing to put the entire weight of his presidency on the issue. In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the President said that he plans to address climate change in "chunks" starting next year. He said he will devote a massive amount of presidential power to the......read more
Aurora Robson's glimmering reputation was built on Plastic bottles are utterly detestable Notcot recently reminded us about the Aurora Robson's most recent exhibit, Be Like Water, just finished showing at 2424 in Philadelphia. For more Robson, visit her site. (via Notcot)...read more
In 1984, a small town in India experienced the deadliest environmental disaster in history, when an explosion at a Union Carbide chemical factory in Bhopal sent 27 tons of methyl isocyanate gas into the slums. 22,000 people died as a result. Twenty-six years later, locals are still affected by birth defects and disease. On Monday, Indian courts sentenced eight Union Carbide officials – all......read more
After a midterm election that saw the House of Representatives shift from Democratic to Republican control, it's become abundantly clear that comprehensive climate legislation is going to be incredibly difficult if not impossible to pass. That's all the more evident when you consider that two dozen members of Congress who voted for the Waxman-Markley climate legislation a short while......read more
In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said he will fight Obama's plan for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Republican Congressman Fred Upton told Wallace that the new GOP-led House won't "let this administration regulate what they've been unable to legislate." On the one hand, we shouldn't be......read more
President Obama is set to deliver his second State of the Union address this Tuesday. With a hostile House and a public focused on economic recovery, energy is not expected to take a front seat. For Sunday's NYT Op-Ed pages, several writers and thinkers offered their views on how President Obama could approach various issues in the address. Andrew Revkin, the man behind Dot Earth, took on the......read more
To the surprise of many (or us, at least), clean energy was a primary focus of President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday. The President spent the first third of the speech on the issue, and laid out an ambitious goal by saying that 80 percent of electricity should come from clean energy sources by 2035. "[T]he nation that leads the clean energy economy will lead the global......read more
As he discussed in the State of the Union address, President Obama intends to cut subsidies of oil and gas companies already making money hand over fist. In the new budget, set for release sometime this month, Obama calls for a $36.5 billion dollar reduction in subsidies and tax breaks for oil and gas companies, alongside substantial increases in funding for solar, wind, and geothermal energy......read more
President Obama pledged last week to pull back oil and gas subsidies in order to direct more dollars toward renewable energy. But can he pull it off? This will be Obama's third attempt at eliminating the subsidies; previous efforts have fallen victim to partisan politics in Congress and the overwhelming influence of fossil fuel lobbyists. So who exactly are these lobbyists?A simultaneously......read more
Nothing ever works out as planned. Just ask President Obama, who came into office equipped with an ambitious energy plan that addressed climate change and American dependence on foreign (read: Mideast) oil. Within two short years, a massive financial meltdown, an unprecedented offshore oil spill, and a GOP-controlled Congress has demolished that strategy, sending the administration back to the......read more