Barack Obama

Fulfilling his promise as the green FDR

One year after his election, Obama on verge of audaciously fulfilling his promise as the green FDR 1
Posted 3 days, 18 hours ago What team Obama has accomplished in the year since he was elected is nothing less than an unprecedented reversal of decades of unsustainable national policy forced down the throat of the American public by conservatives.
Obama speaks on climate action from MIT 0
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago
Pretty words

Obama energy speech contained few policy specifics, but shaped forward-looking narrative 1
Posted 2 weeks, 1 day ago Obama delivered a speech on energy at MIT on Friday, marking the kick-off for what is likely to be a protracted effort by the administration and Democrats in the Senate to pass the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill.
Letter from Europe

From Oslo to Copenhagen: Earning the Peace Prize 0
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago Could Barack Obama's controversial Nobel Prize help bring about an effective global agreement to tackle climate change? Could the American president, by heading straight to Denmark after collecting his prize, actually demonstrate why he was the right pick for the honor within days of delivering his laureate address?
interpretating the news

Obama’s Nobel: What it means for greens 5
Posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago Dip a toe into the Nobel Peace Prize news and next thing you’re drowning in commentary. Here’s an attempt to distill what it means for greens, by which I mean the types of people who rely on air, water, soil, and other naturey elements.
Letter from Europe

On climate, leading from the front (for a change) 6
Posted 1 month ago Something unusual seems to be happening in the struggle to wake the world up to the reality of climate change. Almost unprecedented for an environmental issue, national leaders appear to be out ahead of public opinion in their respective countries.
Obama antes up

Carbon poker 0
Posted 1 month ago I had a dream about watching one of those high stakes poker games that you see on TV. Barack Obama and Hu Jintao were at the table, each with so many chips before them that you could barely see their cowboy shirts. But the purpose in their deadly stares could not be obscured, even by the dark Ray Bans that shaded their eyes.
G20, your resolution sounds terrific

G20 cans fossil-fuel subsidies, but fails to make other climate-conserving moves 7
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago At the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, world leaders announced an agreement to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies. It was the only climate-specific policy directive to come out of the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, and it fell far short in the view of climate activists.
China steals Cimate Week spotlight, but U.S. still in the hot seat 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago The U.S. was given a starring role at the United Nations Climate Summit on Tuesday, but China stole the show.
Hooray for buzz kills

Obama gives his first real climate speech—really 4
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago It was no barnburner of a speech, but President Obama’s address at the U.N. Climate Summit Tuesday morning amounted to the boldest climate change speech of his presidency. That's because it was essentially the only climate change speech of his presidency.
What a difference a week makes?

Climate Week kicks off in New York with bigwigs and big hopes 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago
This week, leaders from around the world are coming to a U.N. Climate Summit in New York, where President Obama will give a speech on climate change and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes to make real progress toward a new international climate treaty. Activists will be out in force at a slew of climate-related events in NYC, and then they'll take the show to Pittsburgh, where world leaders will be assembling for a G20 summit.
Clean (energy) bill of health

Health-care reform through green-colored glasses 1
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Strong climate legislation could save the U.S. $450 billion in environment-related health-care costs. Shouldn’t climate change be front and center in the health-care debate?
Blast It, EPA: Make a Decision Already!

A moment of truth for Appalachia, Obama and EPA on mountaintop removal coal mining 4
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Barack Obama is not Bagger Vance 9
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Things are pretty grim among progressives these days, what with health care bogging down and climate legislation on indefinite delay; right wing crazies everywhere and Blue Dogs intransigent; the organized coalition that brought Obama to office fractured and ineffective. Disillusionment is in the air. In response, on listservs and private conversations, I'm hearing more and more people express some version of the following sentiment: Barack Obama should save us. According to this line of thinking, if Obama really got serious, got his messaging right, did a really good speech, exercised his extraordinary popularity with the American people, he could right the ship for his two main domestic initiatives, both of which are drifting perilously close to the shoals.

It's understandable. Everyone still remembers the extraordinary high of the campaign, the rare and almost forgotten feeling of being genuinely moved by a civic minded politician. Everyone wants that high back, as an escape from the lies, bottlenecks, and general unpleasantness that now beset us.

But let me be blunt: Barack Obama is not our magic negro.
to market, to market

Obama wants to set up White House farmers market 8
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
President Obama says he and the First Lady are looking into setting up a farmers market just outside the White House, which might sell food from the White House garden or from local farmers.
Green Lantern can't save us now

Netroots Nation frustration and the impediments to progressive change 13
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
I just returned from Netroots Nation, the yearly gathering of progressive bloggers, journalists, and activists. Last year, in Austin, the atmosphere was absolutely electric, with the election approaching and a clear sense of battle lines drawn, victory within reach. Also, lots of great parties. This year, at least from my limited perspective, the atmosphere was more muted, the panels less exciting, and the parties both fewer and less fun. The tone of the conference was, in part, related to a general frustration among progressives.
From Miley to Marvin

JoBros, Miley Cyrus send on eco-message, and more 1
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Miley Cyrus, the JoBros, and other Disney tweensters want you to "send it on" -- your love for the earth, that is.
Notable quotable

How Barack Obama is like Marvin Gaye 3
Posted 2 months, 4 weeks ago
EPA chief Lisa Jackson draws the comparison.
Beer me, Barry!

Unsolicited advice about organic beer for the Obama Beer Summit 7
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Grist food columnist Tom Philpott was delighted at the idea of Obama's beer summit, but appalled at the what the attendees chose to imbibe. Here's what they should have drunk.
The more we get together, the happier we'll be

Obama tells China the “ravages of climate change” demand cooperation 1
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
In a speech to head off the first meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue in Washington, D.C between the United States and China this morning, President Obama talks Chinese spending.