In a Switch, Some Republicans Start Citing Climate Change as Driving Their Policies

WASHINGTON — When John Barrasso, a Republican from oil and uranium-rich Wyoming who has spent years blocking climate change legislation, introduced a bill this year to promote nuclear energy, he added a twist: a desire to tackle global warming.

John Barrasso, a Republican Senator from uranium-rich
Wyoming, with President Trump in 2017. Mr. Barrasso
has introduced a bill to promote nuclear power that he
frames as a climate solution.

Mr. Barrasso’s remarks — “If we are serious about climate change, we must be serious about expanding our use of nuclear energy” — were hardly a clarion call to action. Still they were highly unusual for the lawmaker who, despite decades of support for nuclear power and other policies that would reduce planet-warming emissions, has until recently avoided talking about them in the context of climate change.

The comments represent an important shift among Republicans in Congress. Driven by polls showing that voters in both parties — particularly younger Americans — are increasingly concerned about a warming planet, and prodded by the new Democratic majority in the House shining a spotlight on the issue, a growing number of Republicans are now openly discussing climate change and proposing what they call conservative solutions.

Read the story from The New York Times by Lisa Friedman “In a Switch, Some Republicans Start Citing Climate Change as Driving Their Policies.”

Should I tell my Republican friend that her Florida mansion is doomed by sea-level rise?

Dear Sara,

My friend is a Republican who owns a very expensive mansion on Fisher Island in Miami. I’m fairly sure my friend believes that climate change is real but does not know how serious the situation may get within her or her children’s lifetimes. What year will I tell her is the last I’ll be able to visit her there, because it will be underwater? How many years ahead of that will she need to sell it before it’ll be rendered worthless? I’m thinking of getting her a garden gnome wearing a snorkel. – Climate Concerned in New York City.

Fisher Island.

Let’s begin with the facts, which are straightforward. Sea-level rise is not just a problem for 50 or 100 years from now. It’s already begun. Today, under certain conditions – when there’s an unusually high tide, for example – water spills into basements and low-lying streets across South Florida.

The problem will get worse. Another 6 to 10 inches of sea-level rise is expected in South Florida by 2030, and perhaps more than two feet by the time today’s high-school seniors turn 60. In response, Miami Beach, a wealthy community on a barrier island just north of your friend’s home on Fisher Island, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elevate roads, raise seawalls, and install pumps to suck the water away.

Read the story from Yale Climate Connections by Sara Peach - “Should I tell my Republican friend that her Florida mansion is doomed by sea-level rise?”

The Koch Brothers Get Their Very Own Secretary of State

In the Republican wave election of 2010, when Charles and David Koch emerged as defining figures in American politics, the greatest beneficiary of Koch Industries largesse was a political newcomer named Mike Pompeo. After his election to the House eight years ago, Pompeo was referred to as the “Koch Brothers’ Congressman” and “the congressman from Koch.”

Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 13.

Now Pompeo is positioned to become a Koch brothers–influenced secretary of state.

After serving for a little more than a year as Donald Trump’s top yes-man at the Central Intelligence Agency, Pompeo is Trump’s pick to replace Rex Tillerson, the administration’s listless placeholder at the Department of State.

In a measure of the extent to which Trump and Tillerson had disengaged from one another, the outgoing secretary of state apparently learned of his firing via Twitter Tuesday morning—when an aide showed the nation’s top diplomat a tweet from the president announcing the transition. A statement from the department indicated that Tillerson was “unaware of the reason” for his removal.

Read The Nation story by John Nichols - “The Koch Brothers Get Their Very Own Secretary of State.”

We Don’t Think of Californians as Climate Refugees Yet, But We Should

Let’s play with a word and an idea. “Hegemony” means the dominance of one political group over all others. That, at this moment, is the Republican brand. President Donald J. Trump, a Republican Senate, a Republican House, and a conservative, if not Republican, court system that will judge the law and Constitution for years to come. Hegemony.

But that word has been corrupted. Once the Greek word, “hegemon,” meant to lead. But the root word “heg” in English later became to seek, or better, to “sack,” as in ransack.

So hegemony is a fine word to describe the Trump era. The goal is to ransack (instead of lead). Ransack the government. Or at least the idea of government.

Read Mark Trahant’s story on Yes! Magazine - “We Don’t Think of Californians as Climate Refugees Yet, But We Should.”

Australia joining US in openly trashing global climate efforts

Bill McKibben warns Australia risks
 missing out on the new jobs and
 investment opportunities offered by
 renewable energy industries.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Here we are – Donald Trump is about to become the 45th president of the United States and we have to prepare for the onslaught.

It beggars belief that in 2016 an outright climate change denier could rise to the highest office in the US, dragging with him a Republican controlled Congress hungry to revive the old glory days of coal, gas and oil, not to mention a Secretary of State that until last month ran the biggest oil company on earth.

Yet while Australians may groan and worry at the destruction that Trump will bring, take a look at your own Trump-like administration.

Washington DC may be awash with fossil fuel operatives, but Australia is no stranger to fossil fuel barons holding political sway either – indeed, you elected one to Parliament a few years ago in the form of Clive Palmer. And as Trump thrusts the US firmly into a position as international climate pariah, we are sadly joining Australia as two rogue developed nations openly trashing global climate efforts.

Bill McKibben writes for The Sydney Morning Herald - “Australia joining US in openly trashing global climate efforts.”

'Bright' Santorum calls out the Pope on global warming

N

Pope Francis - educationally
well positioned to understand
global warming.

o one would argue that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum stands out as being exceptionally, or even nominally, bright.

He’s deeply religious. He’s a homophobe. But intelligence? It’s not his strong suit. Even so, his recent remarks towards Pope Francis surpass even his legendary foot-in-mouth problem.

Read the Addicting Info story - “Rick Santorum Tells Pope To Leave Science To Scientists, Forgets Pope Has Masters In Chemistry”.