Maine State Senator Chloe Maxmin doesn’t identify as a “traditional Democrat.” She has a good reason for this: “I don’t really trust the government,” she told EcoWatch. “I haven’t trusted our government throughout how it’s responded to COVID and I don’t trust it in terms of how it’s going to respond to the climate crisis.” […]
President-elect Joe Biden is starting to assemble his White House team, and one of his picks has already alarmed climate activists. Biden has chosen Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond as a senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, The New York Times reported Tuesday. As part of his role, Richmond will […]
By Tara Lohan Election Day 2020 — the day before the United States officially left the Paris climate agreement — didn’t deliver an immediate rebuke to President Trump or relief for environmentalists. That would have to wait. “The election hasn’t produced the outcome that the planet badly needed,” Bill McKibben of 350.org summed up in […]
By Jessica Corbett Green groups applauded Sen. Jeff Merkley on Wednesday for introducing a pioneering pair of bills that aim to “protect the long-term health and well-being of the American people and their economy from the catastrophic effects of climate chaos” by preventing banks and international financial institutions from financing fossil fuels. “How we invest […]
By Jessica Corbett Leaders of climate and conservation groups on Tuesday welcomed House Democrats’ introduction of landmark legislation that aims to address the ocean impacts of human-caused global heating and reform federal ocean management—recognizing that, as Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva put it, “a healthy ocean is key to fighting the climate crisis.” The Arizona Democrat, […]
By James R. Skillen Presidential elections are anxious times for federal land agencies and the people they serve. The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service manage more than a quarter of the nation’s land, which means that a new president can literally reshape the American […]
The Trump administration rejected California’s federal relief request to help recover from six recent wildfires, The Los Angeles Times reported. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office requested a presidential disaster declaration for federal relief funds to help with cleanup efforts, including the Creek Fire, the largest in the state’s history, CNN reported. The relief would have […]
By Jo Harper The Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden proposes net-zero CO2 emissions in the United States by 2050. It’s an ambitious target, but 30 years is a long time in politics and there is a key tension between the party’s moderate nominee with links to corporate funders, such as the asset manager BlackRock, and […]
Climate emergency activist Greta Thunberg on Saturday endorsed Democrat Joe Biden, urging climate voters to make their voices heard in the U.S. presidential election. “Fridays For Future and the youth climate movement are striking again around the world, in a safe way and following Covid-19 guidelines, to demand those in power treat this like the […]