During a recent interview in Norway, former president Barack Obama answered an interesting question: What would you do if you had one more day as president? In response, Obama said there was “a lot of unfinished business” when he left office, but if he had more time, he would urge a higher global focus on […]
By Tim Radford Barack Obama, outgoing president of the U.S., has stepped directly into the climate debate. He believes that the U.S. is on the way to a “clean energy” world and he delivers four reasons why he thinks the shift is now irreversible. In an article for the journal Science, President Obama said that […]
As the curtain comes down on President Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House, most Americans seemed convinced of one of two things: We’re either about to Make America Great Again®, or we’re about to hurtle into an uncertain epoch that I like to call the Idiocene. But before we turn the page on […]
President Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to protect two large areas in the western U.S. The new Bears Ears National Monument in Utah preserves 1.35 million acres containing 100,000 significant Native American sites, while the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada sets aside 300,000 acres, also home to Indigenous archeological sites. Protection […]
By Steve Horn President Obama announced Tuesday what amounts to a ban of offshore drilling in huge swaths of continental shelf in both the Alaskan Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, a decision which came after years of pushing by environmental groups. Using authority derived from Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the […]
By Jon Queally While President Obama said his administration is willing to let “things play out” for a few more weeks when it comes to the escalating effort by Native American tribes to stop a pipeline in North Dakota, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) offered a distinctly more urgent response on Tuesday by saying “Damn right” […]
President Obama and Leonardo DiCaprio will meet at a White House event Oct. 3 to discuss ways to combat climate change. Exciting news: @POTUS will be joined by @LeoDiCaprio for a conversation on combating climate change at #SXSL: https://t.co/eMPiKavm8y pic.twitter.com/o7Gp0cNhBV — White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) September 25, 2016 At the inaugural South by South Lawn […]
During his final UN General Assembly address, President Obama pressed for a “sense of urgency” in bringing the Paris agreement into force and for scaling up ambition on climate action. He also called for more clean energy investment in developing countries. According to the United Nations, 30 countries are expected to formally join the Paris […]
Citing the danger that climate change poses to the oceans, President Obama will establish the largest marine reserve in the world today, protecting nearly 600,000 square miles off the coast of Hawaii. Commercial fishing, mining and extraction are prohibited in the expanded Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, though subsistence fishing and scientific research will be allowed. […]