Message to whistleblowers of appreciation and long overdue credit

President Obama signed S. 743, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, into law today. The legislation provides millions of federal workers with the rights they need to report government corruption and wrongdoing safely. “After a 13-year campaign, federal whistleblowers will now have a fighting chance when depending on free speech rights for professional survival,” as Government Accountability Project legal director Tom Devine put it in his Thanksgiving Message to Whisteblowers.

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Global investor network calls for low-carbon policy action dialogue with governments

A global network of institutional investor organizations responsible for roughly $22.5 trillion in assets has released a letter calling for a new dialogue between investors and “the governments of the world’s largest economies on climate policy and the development of workable frameworks that will reduce climate risk and support low carbon investment.” Continue reading

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We haven't forgotten about the Keystone XL pipeline

This afternoon we were at a packed Warner Theater in Washington, DC, along with 1,800 others, as the 350.org Do the Math coast-to-coast tour hit the nation's capital. This is the launching of a new campaign to call on colleges, churches, and others to divest their portfolios of investments in fossil fuel companies -- as was done in the the 1970s and 1980s to delegitimize doing business with the apartheid regime in South Africa. The rally spilled into the street to Freedom Plaza, then circled the White House, calling on President Obama to start demonstrating his own second-term legitimacy and accountabiity on climate change by killing the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Continue reading

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Hurricane Sandy, climate change, and what is to be done – Q&A with Judith Regan on SiriusXM

South Ferry subway station flooding (Photo: MTA New York City Transit / Leonard Wiggins)

“Why is it that the politicians have such an insufficient response to this?  Do they wait until there is loss of life and billion and billions of dollars worth of damage before they do something?  Do we always have to wait until it’s too late?” Judith Regan asked during our Q&A on her show from New York City on SiriusXM satellite radio.

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New whistleblower law will significantly strengthen federal employee protections

On November 13 the Senate passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, sending the bill to the White House for the President’s signature. The legislation provides millions of federal workers with the rights they need to safely report government corruption and wrongdoing. "After a 13 year rollercoaster campaign, Congress unanimously has given whistleblowers who defend the public a fighting chance to defend themselves," said Government Accountability Project Legal Director Tom Devine. Among its numerous provisions, the bill creates specific legal protection for scientific freedom, providing whistleblower rights to employees who challenge censorship, and makes it an abuse of authority to punish disclosures about scientific censorship. (Sec. 110) Continue reading

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Obama says he will elevate national climate change 'conversation'

A New York Times reporter asked President Obama at his White House news conference today: "What specifically do you plan to do in a second term to tackle the issue of climate change?" The President's reply included this: "What I'm going to be doing over the next several weeks, next several months, is having a conversation, a wide-ranging conversation with scientists, engineers, and elected officials to find out what can -- what more can we do to make a short-term progress in reducing carbons, and then working through an education process that I think is necessary -- a discussion, a conversation across the country about what realistically can we do long term to make sure that this is not something we're passing on to future generations that's going to be very expensive and very painful to deal with."

We support this, if it means that the President is going to move forward in making climate change more salient, engaging in high-profile interactions with climate scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders, and building broad public support for action on preparedness, moving beyond the so-called "all of the above" energy approach, and showing better international leadership. Continue reading

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Wind back in the sails for wind energy tax credit

The Governors' Wind Energy Coalition, a bipartisan group of 23 state governors dedicated to enhancing the development of wind energy in the U.S., has called on Congress to adopt the Wind Energy Production Tax Credit, scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Some of the same political forces that have sought to undermine support for climate science and acting on climate change are part of the campaign to do away with the wind energy credit. “Without a PTC extension," the governors' letter says, "it is estimated that the U.S. economy will lose 37,000 wind industry jobs and the opportunity to leverage over $10 billion of private investment." Continue reading

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Aviation and climate change: flying blind

A recent federal court hearing on regulation of greenhouse gases from aviation went unnoticed by the media. In a small federal courtroom in Washington, DC, on November 1, a legal battle was being waged between Earthjustice, representing a coalition of environmental groups, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Climate Science Watch spoke with Earthjustice attorney Sarah Burt after the hearing for a perspective on this lawsuit and on the EPA’s statutory obligation to regulate emissions from aircraft. Continue reading

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Climate cliff overshadows fiscal cliff

A recently released PricewaterhouseCoopers (or PwC) report, titled Too Late for Two Degrees?, suggests that, to meet even a goal of a 4° C increase in global mean temperatures the world must quadruple our current rate of decarbonization.  (Yes, this is that PwC -- the “Big 4” accounting firm and the largest professional services firm in the world.) This is the most alarming study I have come across in months. Continue reading

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Toward government accountability on climate change during Obama's second term

Congratulations to President Obama for his re-election victory last night, after a long and hard-fought campaign.  Of course, while the electoral contest has concluded (finally!), the essential policy problems of U.S. government remain unresolved and still face the President, a divided Congress, and the country. Whether the U.S. can turn the page and begin to move beyond its current dysfunctional policymaking process on key issues remains to be seen.

For our part, we will be putting forward, step by step, an agenda for government accountability on climate science, policy, and politics during the next four years – with a primary focus on a White House and executive branch agenda that cannot hide behind congressional inaction and that does not depend on Congress to step up and take significant steps forward in the immediate future.

We will continue to be an independent voice, putting forward critical analysis and advocacy, giving credit to policymakers when credit is due, but calling on the President to set the bar higher for himself on climate change communication and action than what he has shown during his first term. He has an opportunity to marginalize the global warming denial machine and draw on popular support to counteract entrenched corporate power and wealth. The implications of global climatic disruption for the U.S. and the world demand that we find a way to shift movement on this challenge into a higher gear, now. Continue reading

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