He may not always succeed, Congress blocked him on closing Gitmo, but he gave it a significant try. And I would bet that he hasn’t given up but is working on a solution.

PBO is a player of the long game. I have zero doubt that climate change was very much considered before he began his first term. The plan was to pass a good piece of climate legislation and then the Administration would administer it.

The Democratic controlled House passed a climate bill. Republicans in the Senate blocked it. That route failed.

That did not stop PBO, he used some of the stimulus money to get some of the most inefficient cars off the road and EV battery plants built. His EPA is shutting down over 100 coal plants. His Department of the Interior made it easier to get renewable energy facilities approved. He’s greening the military. Even though needed legislation was blocked PBO found ways to make progress.

Now that health care has been taken care of, the economy is getting back on its feet and the election is behind him, PBO says that climate change is one of his very top priorities for the next four years.

I believe him when he says that because he’s shown that he does what he says he will do.

Even though the majority of people accept the facts that the climate is changing and that humans play a huge or total role in the change they will not quit driving. We, human animals, are not wired to avoid long term problems, we give priority to short term ones.

We could exert huge amounts of our energy and stop the pipeline but we would simply source our fuel from other wells. And a different route would be found to get the sludge to market. At best, the tar sand oil might be delayed a couple of years.

Our way out of this mess is to give people acceptable alternatives to filling up their tanks.

We might be best served by putting our energy into better (and cheaper) public transportation and getting electric-powered cars on the road sooner.

That gives each concerned individual two routes.

If you are the political action type, then get involved with your local government in getting more public transportation options so that people can leave their cars parked more of the time.

We should be moving toward a future in which there are no cars in the core area of cities. We don’t move people around inside huge airport terminals by car.

If you live in a multi-car household and you’re not struggling to stay afloat then give very serious consideration to buying an EV like the LEAF.

If one of your cars never drives over the range of the LEAF it could be replaced with an EV. Two people, one works seven miles from home, one twenty-five miles from home. Put the person who drives the furthest in an EV, use the gasmobile for the shorter commute and long trips.

If your trade-in is an efficient car it will probably speed an inefficient car to the crusher.

With the price drop you can now buy the LEAF for under $20k and save a bundle of money driving it. It won’t cost you anything to help the climate and cut oil usage.

If we buy a lot of EVs their prices will come down and then more people will buy EVs and fewer people will use oil. That’s how we kill oil. That’s how we turn the Keystone pipeline into scrap steel.