Independent Journalist & Author
Blast Climate Deniers Into Space?
Blast climate deniers into space? That’s what Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC, jokingly suggested during a discussion with California Gov. Jerry Brown and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson yesterday in San Francisco. Gov. Brown called deniers “cult-like lemmings who would take us over the cliff” and vowed to “fight them every step of the way” as he prepares to protect his state from the “huge problems” posed by climate change. See my story in Grist for details:… Read more
Climate Deniers-in-Chief Run the Show in Durban
The disastrous Durban climate agreement shows once again that we can’t wait for “world leaders” to save us from catastrophe, I write in this week’s Nation. Solutions will come from the ground up–from citizen activists and visionary local governments–in defiance of the Climate Deniers-in-Chief who dominated Durban. See: http://www.thenation.com/article/165155/durban-where-climate-deniers-chief-run-show/. Durban: Where the Climate Deniers-in-Chief Run the Show Mark Hertsgaard December 14, 2011 | This article appeared in the January 2, 2012 edition of The Nation. Share 4 ||| Recommended by 0 | Text Size A | A | A Email|Print|Share|Single Page|Web Letter (0)|Write a Letter|Take Action|Subscribe Now A different and more dangerous breed of climate denier commanded the stage at… Read more
Make Banks Re-lend Subsidy Billions to the 99 Percent
Yesterday, the Occupy movement began occupying foreclosed homes to save fellow members of the 99 percent from economic ruin, not to mention homelessness–good for them. But it’s important to add that many of the millions of pending foreclosures in the United States could have been prevented–and still could be–if the federal government so orders. In fact, such a move would be one of the strongest steps the Obama administration could take to reduce human suffering and revive the economy. When Washington pumped billions of dollars into the nation’s banks in 2008 and 2009, there was good reason to do so: It kept the US and arguably the global financial system from outright crashing, which would have brought even greater human and economic suffering than was experienced otherwise. But… Read more
Why the Keystone Victory Matters
Don’t be fooled by the nay-sayers at the Council on Foreign Relations and even among some environmentalists: the Obama administration’s backtracking on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada is a major victory against climate change. And HOW it was won is as important as WHAT was won, as I explain in this week’s lead editorial in The Nation:… Read more
Huge Victory Against Tar Sands Pipeline
And now it’s official. The U.S. State Department just announced that it would delay making a decision on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline until after it had undergone extensive further review, including a search for an alternate routing. In effect, this puts off any decision until 2013 at the earliest and may well dooms the project, espeically if Obama is re-elected. Score another victory, and against very long odds, for street protests. And not a moment too soon. The International Energy Agency released its annual World Energy Outlook report yesterday, which warned that the world has five years to make fairly radical changes in its fossil-fuel dominated energy infrastructure if we are to avoid irreversible climate change. What exactly the IEA–which is a very… Read more
Occupy, Climate and Obama
Al Jazeera English has just published my commentary on the Occupy movement, climate change and president Obama, which argues that the movement could still redeem the failed promise of Obama’s presidency by pushing him to champion more progressive policies–as has in fact just occurred with his administration’s announcement that it will delay a decision on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Canada. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ and Obama If ‘Occupy’ keeps up the pressure, Obama could be compelled to adopt more progressive policies. By Mark Hertsgaard Last Modified: 10 Nov 2011 14:03 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – The bursting to life of the Occupy Wall Street movement is the most hopeful development in American politics since Barack Obama was elected president three years ago this… Read more
Latest Book
Hertsgaard’s latest book, HOT, describes how his five year old daughter and the rest of Generation Hot can cope with the massive climate impacts that are now inevitable. Packed with eyewitness reporting on existing solutions for "avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable," HOT shows how we all must think--and act--differently now in the fight against climate change. Read more
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