An Analysis of "Barack Obama: New Energy for America"

On August 4th the Obama campaign released a comprehensive program for reform of the U.S. energy system. This article is a critical analysis of that program.

Following an introduction, there are seven separate sections.

The Introduction

Obama frames his program as primarily a response to “our dependence on oil.” He calls this dependence “a threat to our national security, our planet and our economy.”

Comment: It is striking that in this introduction, and nowhere else in the 8-page, single-spaced document, does Obama identify our fossil fuel addiction, or the carbon pollution from the burning of oil, coal and natural gas, as the, or even a, problem.

He does say in the concluding paragraph of the introduction that “the nation (needs) to face one of the great challenges of our time: confronting our dependence on foreign oil, addressing the moral, economic and environmental challenge of global climate change, and building a clean energy future that benefits all Americans.”

He lists in a prominent box six things his program will do:

  1. Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
  2. Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future
  3. Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined
  4. Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars Continue reading

Coal is what it is–VP candidates and coal

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Barack Obama shone some of his rays of hope on the climate movement. He named “serious” action on global warming as one of the benchmarks for success in his first term. “If I haven’t gotten combat troops out of Iraq, passed universal health care and created a new energy policy that speaks to our dependence on foreign oil and deals seriously with global warming, then we’ve missed the boat.”

In order to deal “seriously” with climate change, we need a moratorium on new coal plants. According to James Hansen, “it’s just silly to build a new one now.” And yet VP hopeful, our own Governor Tim Kaine, aggressively pushed for his and Dominion’s coal plant in Wise County. As Gov. Kaine says on this video, “There are some who say that you can’t build any new coal plants, and I don’t agree with that.”


Join the campaign at www.chesapeakeclimate.org/nocoal

Another VP hopeful, Kathleen Sebelius, has a record on coal that is much more promising than Gov. Kaine’s. She made herself a hero by standing up to a Republican legislature and strong utilities by blocking a coal plant from being built. Even the Republicans have a strong hero in the VP running. Florida Governor Charlie Crist successfully halted the construction of a new coal plant and stated his strong support of renewable energy. “Coal is what it is and I know it’s been an important source of energy in the past. But you know we have solar, we have nuclear, we have wind and other alternative opportunities for energy in the Sunshine State.”

It’s obvious that Kaine supports coal. He wants coal now, and he wants coal in the future. Is this going to meet up with Obama’s stated goal, to seriously address global warming?

TRADITION! WashPost Global Warming reporting Fair and Balanced

Tradition!

The Washington Post is establishing a firm 21st Century tradition: when it comes to Global Warming, take guidance from Faux News, “Fair and Balanced”.

Multiple times in the pastweek, both in reporting and on the editorial page, The Washington Post continued a seemingly iron tradition of coloring Global Warming science by ensuring that skeptics and deniers have their say as well, without providing any indication to the Continue reading

Health Risks of Global Warming

A volunteer passed this Washington Post article on to me, and I thought it was scary enough to share. As if we didn’t have enough reasons to fight global warming, what with threats to the economy through sea level rise and the imminent extinction of the polar bears, it will also have significant effects on public health worldwide.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, the average atmospheric temperature rose by about 1 degree Fahrenheit. By 2000, that increase was responsible for the annual loss of about 160,000 lives and the loss of 5.5 million years of healthy life, according to estimates by the World Health Organization. The toll is expected to double to about 300,000 lives and 11 million years of healthy life by 2020.

Click here to read more.

The article is also summarized in picture form! (Pretty terrifying, isn’t it?)

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Virginia beaches vs. political will

Washington Post reporter, David Fahrenthold, writes about a new report by the National Wildlife Federation in the news today. It paints a shockingly stark picture of the fate of our beloved beaches thanks to global warming–that the region could lose more than half of the beaches along its ocean coasts. Fifty-eight percent of the region’s beaches could completely disappear due to sea level rise caused by global warming. Read the report summary here>>

This report comes out as we enter into a new phase of our campaign to stop the coal-burning plant in Wise County. Kaine is about to appoint two new members of the Air Board, a body which reviews permits for polluting facilities. There are no requirements for appointment; merely that a “significant portion of their income within the previous two years” not come from the businesses they regulate. ”The term Continue reading

Global Warming: Seven Generations, not Seven Years …

We live in a “time of consequences.” We, as individuals and collectively, are setting the path which will determine the living conditions for millenia to come. This time of consequences is both long term and quite immediate.

This is true for the individual. Do you invest in an energy efficient future life? Will you unplug the computer before going to sleep?

And, it is true for society. What is the transportation infrastructure we want 30 years from now? And, what is the legislation that will emerge in coming weeks and months related to energy, farming, and Global Warming?

We live in a Time of Consequences. And, we can chose to live through this time, buffeted by the consequences, or we can seek to act to drive change in a positive direction.

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