I have the lead story in this week’s issue of Businessweek, drawing attention to president Obama’s (oddly overlooked) recent statement that, yes, two-thirds of the earth’s fossil fuels must be left in the ground to avoid catastrophic amounts of climate change: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-26/climate-change-and-the-two-thirds-imperative#r=nav-r-story/. This strikes me as by far the most important statement Obama has made about climate change during his presidency: if enacted, it would revolutionize global energy practices; halt all exploration for additional deposits of fossil fuels; effectively rule out fracking (the whole purpose of which is to access those two-thirds of reserves that conventional drilling can’t get); and affirm the importance of the fossil… Read more

The latest climate science says humanity must leave two-thirds of the earth’s proven fossil fuel reserves in the ground, unburned, if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. This imperative in effect rules out fracking–the practice of injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to force previously inaccessible oil and gas to the surface–because fracking is all about accessing those two-thirds of reserves. All of which creates a dilemma for governor Jerry Brown, a self-identified climate champion who nevertheless allows fracking in California. See my print piece The Nation here: http://www.thenation.com/article/180303/if-jerry-brown-so-green-why-he-allowing-fracking-california/. Radio versions of the story aired locally on KALW, one of the two NPR stations in the Bay… Read more

After I posted my Harper’s piece on Monday pointing out how Obama’s moving of the goalposts made the new EPA carbon regulations much less ambitious than claimed, I was dismayed that some readers viewed my piece as an attack on the regulations, others as demonstrating the futility of demanding government action at all. In this new piece for The Nation, I respond, “To write honestly and constructively about climate change in 2014 is as challenging as it is necessary,” and I try to show how:… Read more

The Obama administration is moving the goalposts again on climate policy, which helps explain why presidential adviser John Podesta predicts (in a 7,000 word forthcoming article of mine in Harper’s) that History will judge Obama’s record on climate change as sadly insufficient. I preview the article (from the magazine’s July 2014 issue, on sale next week) in this Harper’s online post, which explains that under the correct goalposts the 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that the administration is now promising shrinks to a mere 7.7 percent:… Read more

I was one of 20 people sent to hospital when gunmen sprayed bullets into a second line parade last Mother’s Day in New Orleans, as I described here: http://www.thenation.com/article/174325/i-got-shot-new-orleans/. As the one year anniversary of the shootings approached, I learned that all 20 attempted murder charges filed in the case had been dropped. They were replaced with federal drug and gun charges, a decision mayor Mitch Landrieu defended in an interview with me: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/09/twenty-of-us-were-shot-on-mother-s-day-but-new-orleans-dropped-the-attempted-murder-charges.html/…. Read more

The unsung history of Earth Day shows that public protest, more than public opinion, is what delivers real progress. I explain further in the lead piece for The Nation’s special Earth Day issue, which features wall-to-wall coverage of the climate challenge. See especially the pieces by Naomi Klein, Rebecca Solnit and Wen Stephenson. And as you ponder the climate crisis, remember: if you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own!… Read more