Happy day after Earth Day! We’ve been celebrating this semi-holiday dedicated to the planet we live on (and keeping it green and healthy for all of us) for 49 years now, and during that time, we’ve seen a lot of positive solutions put into place — and we’ve seen some big problems get a lot worse (like climate change).
One of the most disappointing things about centrist Democrats is the way they think they have to trash-talk Democratic policies in order to win over non-existent “moderate centrist voters.”
When centrists insist we need to build more nuclear power plants as part of the decarbonization push to prevent climate change, they ignore two very important things: New nuclear power plants are fiendishly expensive and have a lousy track record of getting built on time. Or even at all. Southern Company’s Georgia Power division started building its new Vogtle nuclear reactors in 2009, with expected completion in 2016. It’s now three years later, the two reactors have been delayed till 2021 and 2022, and now Georgia Power is asking to delay reporting on whether or not those delayed openings will once again be delayed.
You’ve been hearing a lot about the Green New Deal, but you’re wondering what it’s all about? You can read the full resolution here. Or, if you want a quick and chatty explainer, check out the video on the bottom of this article put together by the folks at The Leap, a climate action group, or the 20 minute MSNBC interview with Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the very bottom of this article.
Full Text Of Congress’ Green New Deal Resolution
Last night, Trump delivered his tardy State of the Union speech, held up by his self-induced shutdown. How did he address the environment, the clean energy revolution, and the growing climate crisis — which the majority of Americans recognized as one of the most pressing issues facing the union?
Congressman Carlos Curbelo’s Florida district is getting swamped by the rising seas of climate change. Likewise, he and half of the GOP members of the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus he founded were swamped last night by the Democratic blue wave that washed over the country. Twenty members escaped the bloodbath, while 23 either retired in the face of the blue wave or lost their re-election bids last night, leaving an uncertain future (the fates of the two GOP delegates from Samoa and Puerto Rico have not yet been reported).
In a blatant money-grab for the coal industry, Rick Perry’s Energy Department is pushing for direct subsidies to dirty, un-economical coal-fired power plants.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke claims he’s not a fossil fuel puppet. “People ask me, ‘am I a fossil fuel guy?’ ” he says. “I’m like, ‘no, I’m all the above.’ ” But when it comes to solar energy — a critical component of ‘all of the above’ — and the best use of public lands, his logic is… for the birds.
Autonomous trucks — and even more so, autonomous electric trucks — could revolutionize long-haul transport over the next decade. But, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the Concordia Conference in New York City last week, that will come at a price: loss of a huge number of well-paying jobs.
