TheGreenFront presents: This Day in Climate History March 12, 2007: Fox News Channel host Shepard Smith interviews ClimateProgress.orgs Joseph Romm on the need to reduce carbon pollution; loud sounds are heard in the background as the heads of climate-change deniers explode. youtu.be/VS1zLSJH0VQ March 12, 2012: On Fox Business, former Exelon CEO John Rowe discusses his support for the concept of cap-and-trade and the need for the US to embrace clean energy. video.foxbusiness/v/1502810960001/rowe-on-support-of-cap--trade/ (Part 1) video.foxbusiness/v/1503044877001/former-exelon-ceo-on-importance-of-cleaner-cheaper-energy (Part 2) March 12, 2013: • The Boston Phoenixs Wen Stephenson observes: On January 24, Congressman [Edward] Markey joined his colleague Henry Waxman of California and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island — three of the most vocal climate champions in the United States Congress — in sending a letter to President Obama, informing him that they are creating a special bicameral task force on climate change. Its a strongly worded letter. We believe, as you do, they write, that climate change is a profound threat to our nation, that our window for preventing irreversible harm is rapidly closing, and that leaders have a moral obligation to act. They call upon Obama for decisive presidential leadership. This does not include, at least in their letter, any mention of the Keystone XL pipeline. But it does include executive action — such as using the EPAs authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate existing power plants — to ensure that U.S. emissions are reduced at least 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Yes, thats the same target Obama pledged at Copenhagen, and the same as the 2009 Waxman-Markey bill. Never mind that the window is rapidly closing. With fossil-fuel funded deniers controlling the House, with the U.S. Senate no longer bound to 51-vote majority rule, even the strongest advocates for climate action in Congress make no pretense that whats necessary — that what science demands — can be seriously discussed in Washington. As I write this, President Obamas State of the Union address is still days away. Theres chatter about another strong statement on climate. But its too much to expect that the president is finally ready to lead, to level with the American people about what it would actually mean to respond to the threat of climate change, as he said on January 21 — in a speech invoking Lincoln and the abolition of slavery — and preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. No, the only thing that matters now is whether there are enough of us ready to lead him, and the rest of our country, in the direction that science — and hope, and patriotism, and love — tell us we must go. thephoenix/boston/news/151670-new-abolitionists-global-warming-is-the-great/ • MSNBCs Rachel Maddow interviews Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) regarding the GOPs descent into denialism. video.msnbc.msn/rachel-maddow/51156544
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 08:31:02 +0000
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