Will they say this was the moment when America finally grew up on climate? After the multi-billion-dollar impact of Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria, it’s safe to say that if the ideological barriers preventing Americans from working together to solve the climate crisis have not been knocked down yet, those barriers will never fall. It’s […]
Citizens Climate Lobby
Posted inPolitical Animal
Hurricane Rush’s Downpour of Lies
I’d say the old man has lost it, but he never had it in the first place: Rush Limbaugh didn’t say the magic words, but on Tuesday he basically accused the media of creating fake news about Hurricane Irma, which is threatening Florida after hitting Barbuda and Antigua. The storm’s 185-mile-per-hour winds tied the record […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Will Hurricane Irma Blow Away GOP Climate Denialism?
Just days prior to Hurricane Irma’s expected assault on Florida, the Washington Post reported: Concern centered particularly on the Florida Keys, a chain of islands at the southern tip of the state that is a tourist hot spot and home to more than 80,000 residents. It is in the direct path of the storm as […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Hurricane Harvey: The Climate 9/11
We will never forget. August 25, 2017–the day Hurricane Harvey hit Texas–will be remembered as a day of infamy and injustice. The horror America experienced that day–and in the days afterward–will be remembered for generations to come. The anger Americans justifiably feel towards those who ignored the advanced warnings of this crisis will never subside. […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
After Hurricane Harvey, Republicans Have No Excuses for Inaction on Climate
How high’s the water, mama? Five feet high and rising How high’s the water, papa? She said it’s five feet high and rising Well the rails are washed out north of town We gotta head for higher ground We can’t come back till the water goes down Five feet high and rising… –Johnny Cash, “Five […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Dirty Deeds: The Trumpist Threat to Clean Air and Water
Presumably, Donald Trump didn’t bring the hack he hired to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, along with him to Saudi Arabia because the fossil-fuel fetishist wouldn’t want to leave that petrostate. The New York Times, presumably trying to reduce the public’s contempt towards its decision to hire climate-change denier Bret Stephens to foul […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
What Do You Do When the Press Offends You?
Analyzing a new study on the pernicious power of right-wing media in terms of driving political polarization in the United States, Northeastern University professor Dan Kennedy observes: Though the report, published by the Columbia Journalism Review, does an excellent job of laying out the challenge posed by Breitbart and its ilk, it is less than […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Crimes and Misdemeanors: Part III
Back in April, I suggested that Rep. Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) harassment of climate scientists should become a focus of discussion in the 2016 presidential election. Smith’s abuse of his position as head of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and his attempts to destroy the lives of those who have tried to raise […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Riders on the Storm
In late-December, and again in late-June, I noted that if Paul Ryan’s worst nightmare comes true, and Democrats regain control of the House and Senate on November 8 thanks to Donald Trump’s hot mess of a presidential campaign, there will be a full-court press by progressives and climate activists to take care of the biggest […]
