Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, author of the introduction to I'm with the Bears — a collection of short stories by world-class novelists envisioning the terrors of impending climate change — have written an article for The Daily Beast on the green cronyism scandals putting the environment and Obama's reputation at stake.
The Solyndra solar panel manufacturer loan controversy is getting a great deal of attention in the US due to allegations that the Obama administration may have unduly influenced the loan. However, Klein and McKibben argue in this article that "there's a far, far bigger Obama cronyism scandal breaking—and in this case, there's still time for the president to step in and stop it."
Activist and writer Bill Mckibben has been arrested in Washington DC this weekend while protesting against TransCanada's proposed plans to build a pipeline that would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands 1,700 miles to Texas.
Mckibben, who penned the introduction for I'm With the Bears, was campaigning as part of plans to raise awareness of the project and prevent its construction. Although he knew that he and fellow protesters risked arrest prior to the demonstration taking place, in a post for Red, Green and Blue, Mckibben emphasised the importance of spreading the message about these plans.
1) This is really really important. Jim Hansen, the world’s most important climatologist, has said that if we burn these tar sands in a big way it will be “essentially game over for the climate.” That’s worth reading again. The oil companies and the Koch Bros are willing to take a few years of big profits in return for cratering the planet’s climate system.Source: Red Green & Blue (http://s.tt/134Cb)
This is really really important. Jim Hansen, the world's most important climatologist, has said that if we burn these tar sands in a big way it will be "essentially game over for the climate." That's worth reading again. The oil companies and the Koch Bros are willing to take a few years of big profits in return for cratering the planet's climate system.
President Obama, thank God, can stop this one all by himself. The endless debate about how much he's been hamstrung by Congress doesn't apply here; the law requires that he, and he alone, sign the necessary certificate that this is in the public interest. If he vetoes it, the pipeline can't be built. As. Simple. As. That.
It comes as no surprise that GOP presidential nominee Rick Perry has called climate change a lie and accused scientists of doctoring information to suit their own ends—indeed, these seem to me some of his tamer anti-science assertions. But even the political centre seems averse to calling out climate change skeptics and taking any meaningful steps to reduce emissions—denial by inaction some would call it. In a column in the Washington Post, author and activist Bill McKibben (who penned the introduction for Verso's upcoming I'm With the Bears: Short Stories from a Damaged Planet) takes aim at Obama's climate change intransigence:
Still, the final call rests with Barack Obama, who said the night that he clinched the Democratic nomination in June 2008 that his ascension would mark the moment when 'the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.' Now he gets a chance to prove that he meant it. In basketball terms, he's alone at the top of the key—will he take the 20-foot jumper or pass the ball? It's a rare, character-defining moment. Obama can't escape it simply by saying that someone else will burn the oil if we don't.