by Mike Tidwell

Copenhagen climate crash

Hot planet to Obama: What’s your Plan B? 6

Posted 6 days, 21 hours ago The planet just can't endure another year of inaction. Obama should travel to the Copenhagen climate conference in December and guarantee dramatic action from the U.S. in 2010 even if it means blowing everything up in Congress and starting over. Read More
Utilities and coal-state Democrats are wrecking our last chance on climate change 0

Posted 6 months, 1 week ago Utility companies and their coal-state apologists in Congress are wrecking America’s last, best chance to solve global warming. By insisting on free pollution permits, utilities are creating a climate bill that is complicated, unfair, and destined to fail in future years. Read More
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See you in jail: It's not symbolism when you live in D.C.

Why I’m joining 2,000 people for a global warming mass arrest on Monday 3

Posted 9 months ago On Monday, I'm going to get arrested just two blocks from the U.S. Capitol building. I'll peacefully block the entrance to an energy plant that burns raw coal to partially power Congress. My motivation is global warming. My colleagues in civil disobedience will include the poet Wendell Berry, country western signer Kathy Mattea, and Yale University dean Gus Speth.

Up to 2,000 other people from across the country will risk arrest, too. We'll all be demanding strong federal action to phase out coal combustion and other fossil fuels nationwide that threaten our vulnerable climate.

This mass arrest might seem symbolic… Read More
I Spy Something Green

Police spy on climate activist while global warming goes unarrested 4

Posted 1 year ago

~~Terrorist~~ Activist Mike Tidwell (at podium) exhibiting clearly threatening behavior.

Photo: chesapeakeclimate

I'm not sure what's more shocking: the news that the Maryland State Police wrongfully spied on me for months as a "suspected terrorist," or that, despite surveillance of me, officers apparently wouldn't recognize me if I walked into their police headquarters tomorrow.

I'm a former Peace Corps volunteer, an Eagle Scout, church member, youth baseball coach, and dedicated father. I also happen to be director of one of the largest environmental groups in Maryland,… Read More
Yes, Virginia, there is a clean energy constituency

Will Democrats take the votes but ignore the voters in increasingly powerful Northern Virginia? 2

Posted 1 year ago Northern Virginia voters solidified their reputation Nov. 4 as a virtual factory for Democratic victories. Collectively, the Virginia suburbs of D.C. broke for Obama in numbers exceeding 60 percent. The margin is comparable to such liberal bastions as California and New York. Given the results, and given that 1 in 3 Virginia voters now lives in the fast-growing region, it's no wonder state Democrats see a gold mine. Already Gov. Tim Kaine (D), elected 2005, and U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D), elected 2006, can credit their victory margins to "NoVa." And Democratic Senator-elect Mark Warner considers the region his base.
… Read More
Can you spell c-o-a-l?

The dirty secret behind D.C.‘s high-tech Virginia suburbs 7

Posted 1 year, 1 month ago There's a chance the presidential election will come down to who wins the state of Virginia. And the key to winning Virginia comes down to who does well in the D.C. suburbs of northern Virginia. This area is an economic powerhouse where no fewer than one in three Virginia voters live. Just mention the words "northern Virginia" across the mid-Atlantic region and the hyphenated adjectives come back at you: Fast-growing, high-tech, well-educated, high-income.

No wonder the presidential candidates can't seem to stay away from the area. Despite perennial traffic congestion, "NoVa" has that certain gleam of 21st century life, from… Read More
D.C.'s newest baseball team: The Washington Exxons

Protestors object to a green baseball stadium sponsored by the world’s dirtiest corporation 3

Posted 1 year, 5 months ago Imagine a Major League Baseball stadium constructed to actually fight lung disease. Imagine engineers eschewing asbestos in every form, using only materials approved by the American Lung Association. Imagine emergency inhalers at every seat, with team officials aggressively marketing the "healthy-lung" park to conscientious fans.

Then imagine your surprise, in visiting the park, to see a huge Marlboro cigarettes ad plastered across the left field fence. Imagine another Marlboro ad behind home plate so TV viewers can't look away. Imagine, finally, being asked to stand and sing Take Me Out To the Ball Game during the "Marlboro Cigarettes 7th Inning… Read More
A Widening Gulf?

Army Corps climate efforts in New Orleans may not be enough 1

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago

No one wants to see this again -- but can post-Katrina protection efforts keep the Big Easy safe?

Photo: NOAA

Here's the good news: The Army Corps of Engineers is "racing" to complete a comprehensive levee system for metropolitan New Orleans by 2011 that actually takes into account global warming, at least in terms of sea-level rise.

Here's the bad news: the levee system under development is wildly insufficient to the… Read More
Australians R Us!

No country in the world is more like the U.S., so where’s our national climate-change leader? 4

Posted 1 year, 11 months ago

Kevin Rudd.

Photo: AP / Rob Griffith

Culturally, politically, and spiritually, what country in the world is most like the United States? It's not Canada and it's sure not Great Britain. The answer is Australia. Ask anyone who's been there. It just feels like America there, from the sprawling suburbs to the cars people drive, from the obsession with sports to their unit of currency: the Australian dollar. Add these factors too: both countries were British colonies, both wiped out indigenous peoples,… Read More
Out on a Ledge

If global warming is an emergency, then let’s act like it 7

Posted 3 years ago On a recent Monday morning, at exactly 8 a.m., a dozen global-warming activists converged in Washington, D.C., at the main entrance to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Will a D.C. protest get the ball rolling?

Photo: climateemergency.org

Two activists dressed as window washers -- painter's hats on, squeegees in hand -- carried a 32-foot extension ladder to the building's main entrance. They ascended the ladder and secured themselves atop a narrow ledge 25 feet above the ground. Within seconds they had unfurled a large banner that read: "Bush: Let… Read More