climate voters

Some groups that represent voters interested in climate change and environmental issues generally:

Environmental Voter Project

Climate Voters

League of Conservation Voters

typical

Well, the media is continuing to pretend that the most important issue facing this nation, our species, and our planet-- climate change-- simply doesn't exist. The debate the other night was just the latest example. If Hillary Clinton hadn't brought the subject up herself, it wouldn't have been mentioned at all. Lester Holt never uttered a peep about it.

Why is it that the media simply can't bring themselves to discuss this issue? Are they really in the pocket of the Exxon-Mobils and the Koch brothers? Is it just not sexy enough, doesn't draw ratings, too long-term, too depressing? Too REAL? Increasingly, I lay the blame for our failure to deal with climate change at the foot of the media. They simply don't want to talk about it.

trump vs. hillary

I'm no big Hillary fan, but from a Planetarian point of view she's the only acceptable candidate here.  Trump is a nationalist-- 'America First.'  We don't need a candidate who's as anti-science as Trump, at this late date still calling climate change a 'hoax' and a 'phony issue.'  Frankly, I don't expect much real leadership from Hillary on this issue-- does anybody really know what she stands for beyond her own personal ambition?-- but at least she's making the right noises.

It's a dismal choice, but in the event I'll hold my nose and vote for Hillary. In the meantime, go to my other blog and punish the Republicans for their willful ignorance of climate change:

dogcatcherpledge.blogspot.com

the dogcatcher pledge

Around sunup today, as I was lying in bed pondering the nature of reality and sipping on my stone-cold cup of Folger's Instant, a brilliant idea came to me. BRILLIANT! I call it 'The Dogcatcher Pledge':

'I pledge that I won't vote for any Republican at any level-- from dogcatcher or state legislator right on up to the presidency-- until the Republican party acknowledges the reality of man-made climate change and makes a serious proposal to deal with it.'

If we could get 4-5 million people to sign this, the Republicans would sit up and take notice. And if we could get 10 or 20 million people to sign it, they would in fact start losing elections, at all levels -- even ones they would otherwise have won. This would also have the effect of moving this issue to the fore in our national politics. Although polls now show a solid majority believe climate change is happening, we're causing it, and we should do something about it, it still polls at or near the bottom of people's priorities. This could change that.

king canute and the republicans

The message comes rolling down the centuries, from this medieval English king right up to the pedicured footsies of today's Republicans.

'Canute set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the incoming tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes. Yet "continuing to rise as usual [the tide] dashed over his feet and legs without respect to his royal person. Then the king leapt backwards, saying: 'Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.''

Like, for example, the laws of physics? Could Canute have been talking to the Republicans about climate change?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_waves

politics

I see planetarians as people who are involved in their own national politics, but from the point of view of looking out for the well-being of the planet as a whole, including all its inhabitants.

politics

I'll include interesting space images from time to time, but I'm more interested in the political aspect of being a 'planetarian.'  What are the most effective forms that such political participation could take?

a republican case for climate action

I think this is huge news:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/opinion/a-republican-case-for-climate-action.html?smid=tw-nytimesscience&seid=auto&_r=2&

Four former EPA heads-- all Republicans appointed by Republican presidents, going back to Nixon-- have come out with this statement affirming the reality of climate change:

"There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last decade the hottest in modern records, and the deep ocean warming faster than the earth’s atmosphere. "

It's hard to see how this statement could be ignored in future FEP (Flat Earth Party) primaries and national elections.  In the face of this, candidates will no longer be able to sluff this issue off as some kind of leftist hoax meant to 'take away our freedoms.'