Simon

Photo credit: Photo Mojo John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate, who failed to mention climate change in his acceptance speech, who picked a climate change denier as his running mate, who won't regulate greenhouse gases, whose energy plan is mainly about offshore drilling and nuclear energy is continuing on his failed environmental and energy trail. While campaigning in coal-rich Pennsylvania, the Washington Post reports, McCain promised he is a "coal booster" and that he would encourage the export of coal to other countries. He also claimed that coal will "create hundreds of thousands of jobs". "My friends, you know what Senator Obama said about a year ago, he said he had not been a, quote, coal booster," he said, as the crowd booed. "My friends, I've been a coal booster and it's going to create jobs, and we're going to export coal to other countries and we are going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That's going to help restore the economy of the great state of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." In reality coal exports in USA is just a tiny little part of the coal industry. According to the Energy Information Administration, only 2 percent of the coal was exported from USA in 2007. And the coal industry hasn’t had "hundreds of thousands of jobs" since the 1950s. Now the coal industry only employ about 80 000 people. And that sum is likely not to go up. Dan Weiss, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said that "U.S. coal exports is a way for the U.S. to export global warming pollution," and that "instead, we should be exporting wind and solar technology." But McCain and his fellow Republicans don't care about common sense and they are now making so called robocalls in Pennsylvania and other coal-producing states around the U.S. warning that Barack Obama would "bankrupt the coal industry". The Climate Progress blog has a nice piece about this that I think you should read: "Ironically, only the coal industry (and its conservative allies) can bankrupt the coal industry, by continuing to stick its head in the ground and not support funding an aggressive effort to see if carbon capture and storage can work." Today you will be able to choose if you want four more years of the same failed politics from George Bush and the Republican Party, or if you want some well-needed change and a way in the right direction for USA and the world. Make your vote count!

Photo credit: soggydan Joseph Romm, from the Climate Progress blog, writes on Huffington Post that John McCain won't regulate greenhouse gas emissions if he and Sarah Palin get elected. Romm writes that McCain does not support mandatory government control of greenhouse gases, something he supported before running for President. Romm also points out the fact that McCain picked a climate change denier as his running mate, that McCain failed to mention climate change in his acceptance speech and that McCain's chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin recently said that "McCain does not agree with the Supreme Court decision that labels carbon dioxide a pollutant and requiring EPA to regulate it." "Now the McCain campaign has decided to eliminate the ambiguity entirely in the desperate and erratic final days of his campaign. In her big greenwashing energy speech at an Ohio solar energy company, Palin was as blunt as possible in her prepared (and delivered) remarks: And we will control greenhouse gas emissions by giving American businesses new incentives and new rewards to seek, instead of just giving them new taxes to pay and new orders that they must follow -- "so says government". The final three words were ones she added, but the prepared text alone leaves no room for doubt. A McCain-Palin administration will not be issuing new orders that businesses must follow to control greenhouse gas emissions. It will use a voluntary or incentive-based approach, one that has never worked in any country to restrain emissions growth." Romm also points out 18 other stupid and dangerous standpoints McCain has when it comes to climate change and clean energy. Such as McCain's gas-tax holiday proposal and that he has voted against clean energy 42 out of 44 times during the past two decades. If you care about climate change and clean energy you only have once choice, Romm writes, "and it isn't McCain-Palin."

Photo credit: bunnicula Al Gore writes that the next President of USA "must take immediate steps to deal with" climate change: In one week Americans will go to the polls and elect our next President. Whoever wins, (and I certainly hope and believe it will be Barack Obama) must take immediate steps to deal with the climate crisis. […] The challenges we face are immense – a global economy in crisis, and two ongoing wars. However, the solution to the climate crisis will also help us solve the economic crisis by putting people to work in green jobs and stimulating the economy with the large investment necessary to convert our energy infrastructure to renewable energy. Read why Barack Obama should be the next President of the United States of America.

The time has come to decide who you will vote for in the 2008 U.S. election. Before I start it should be perfectly clear for everyone that reads this that I am not an American citizen and thus have no right to vote in the election. But, I do have the right to voice my opinion about the candidates and their political stances. So, who should you vote for? Which one of the candidates is best fit to lead, Barack Obama or John McCain? For me, and the rest of the world, the choice is pretty obvious. Barack Obama should, and needs to be the next President of the United States of America. When it comes to environmental, energy and climate issues, only Obama stands out as the strong and aggressive candidate with a detailed and comprehensive plan to tackle these problems. While both candidates support a cap-and-trade system in the U.S. only Obama would enforce it properly. Obama wants to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050 compared to McCain's 60%. Obama also intends to auction off all emission credits, making the polluters pay for the right to pollute. McCain says he instead would give away many of the credit and not make the polluters pay until further "down the line". Obama would require 10% of the electricity in USA to come from renewable energy sources by 2012, and 25% by 2025. McCain says he supports renewable energy but hasn't offered any specific targets or plans. McCain has also been absent when the Senate has been voting to support renewable energy tax credits - four times. McCain supports the not cost-effective, dangerous and expensive nuclear energy, something that will worsen climate change. Obama realises the downsides of nuclear energy and has said that it's "not a great option", mainly because of safety and storage problems and because it requires huge government subsidies. While both candidates' supports the "clean coal" lie only Obama calls for a ban on new coal plants that don’t have any carbon capture or sequestration. McCain is a strong supporter of offshore drilling – something that only will supply 0.6% of the total energy consumption in USA and won't lower energy or gas prices. Obama has said he will "consider" offshore drilling as a part of a much larger energy plan. Obama wants to increase fuel economy standards by 4% each year. McCain says he supports higher fuel economy standards. But he hasn’t offered any specific targets. When you consider the two candidates running mates the choice becomes even easier. The Democratic Vice President candidate Joe Biden has an impressive environmental record. Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice President candidate, on the other hand has an awful environmental record. She is a climate change denier, hates polar bears, and wants to drill in ANWR just to name a few things. John McCain stands for the same failed and devastating ideas and policies that have been in effect during the last 8 years. We don't need more of the same, we need change. Live Poll[poll id="5"]

Peaceful environmental activists who were protecting an old-growth forest in Tasmania, Australia, have been violently attacked by timber workers as they were blocking the road for them. The timber workers attacked the car that the protestors were using to block the road using a sledgehammer and kicking in its windows. They later dragged out a 22-year-old protestor and kicked him repeatedly. The brutal attack was caught on tape by one of the protestors: Via Ecowar