Our Neighborhood Earth - Anti-environmental Politics

Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

(There's no Planet B)

Environmental Politics

(VOTE! Because Democracy is
NOT a spectator Sport)

Site Map

Updated: Nov. 15, 2019

More on
the Govermental Page

Recent News Stories

Memorable Presidential Environmental Quotes
Six Memorable Presidential
Environmental Quotes

Earth Matters NewsFeb.9, 2017 -Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama had something to say.

Click now to read their quotes.
Some might surprise you.

What You Should Know
Why Not a Green Marshall Plan? Elizabeth Warren Has Added a Green Marshall Plan to Her List of Proposals June 4, 2019 ( Mother Jones)- Elizabeth Warren has ascended in recent Democratic presidential polls atop a growing stack of audacious proposals to wipe out student debt, break up giant companies like Amazon and Facebook , and slap new taxes on the ultra-rich. Yet the senator from Massachusetts is taking a different approach to the climate crisis, weaving a patchwork that will likely amount to Warren’s answer to the Green New Deal. Click now for more details. Who Are the Climate Mayors? We Are Climate Mayors Climate Mayors, founfed in 2014, is a bi-partisan, peer-to-peer network of U.S. mayors working together to demonstrate leadership on Climate Chane through meaningful actions in their communities, and to express and build political will for effective federal and global policy action. The Climate Mayors coalition has emerged as a key voice anddemonstration of the ongoing commitment of U.S. cities to accelerate climate progress. Click now to learn more. Congress Should Be Supporting Clean Energy Incentives Tell Congress to Support Clean Energy Incentives July, 2019 (Environment Florida)) - By going big on renewable energy, we can stop polluting our communities and planet with dirty energy sources and make real strides in tackling the climate crisis. Tell your representatives to expand their support for clean energy incentives. Click now to sign on. The 2020 Candidates on Climate Quiz Where the Candidates Stand on Climate- Answers Might Surprise You. GreenPeace, - Take the quiz to learn what you know or don’t know about the Presidential hopefuls wih regard to Climate Change. Interested? Click now for to proceed. Jay Inslee’s Campaign Pledge: No Fossil Fuel Money Jay Inslee’s Pledge to Reject Fossil Fuel Money Mar. 1, 2019 (Huffington Post)) -Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed a pledge Tuesday promising to reject donations from the fossil fuel industry ahead of a likely run for the White House that he’s vowed to uniquely center on climate change. In an interview with HuffPost, Inslee, 67, said he added his name to the list of more than 1,300 politicians across the United States who took the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. Almost every Democratic candidate running in 2020 has signed the pledge. Click now to read more. The Green New Deal Explained What Is the Green New Deal? A Climate Proposal, Explained NY Times Climate Forward, Feb. 21, 2019 - The Green New Deal is a congressional resolution that lays out a grand plan for tackling climate change. Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, the proposal calls on the federal government to wean the United States from fossil fuels and curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy. It also aims to guarantee new high-paying jobs in clean energy industries. Interested? Click now for whole story. Burn It or Eat It (Trump’s Choices) Food Vs. Fuel: What Trump's Ethanol Policy Means For the Food System Oct. 25, 2018 (Forbes) -The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with President Trump’s directive to lift a federal ban on high ethanol blended gas during the summer months, though not quickly enough for Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who Reuters reports is urging the EPA to lift the ban on a much quicker timeline. Lifting the ban is a policy shift that’s being celebrated by large-scale corn growers and decried by biofuel opponents. But the policy has implications for the food system too, as many food system reformers say the last thing U.S. farmers should be growing is more corn. Corn is a complicated crop. It’s highly efficient, nutrient-packed and yet, on the other hand, the U.S. probably grows too much of it. Corn has earned its fair share of criticism — it’s starchy, grown industrially and ubiquitous in ultra-processed food — but this leading cereal crop has also more than earned its place as an agricultural success story. Click now to stay on top of the situation. How the Border Wall Affect Wildlife Near the Border ‘This Is Not Like a Fence in a Backyard’ — Trump’s Border Wall vs. Wildlife The Revelator Podcasts, Apr. 11, 2019 - As was discussed recently on the Sciencentric podcast, the wall’s true impact becomes more evident when you envision all of the things that accompany it: Roads, vehicles, lights, and acres upon acres of cleared habitat. That’s bad news for jaguars, bears, birds, bees and hundreds, if not thousands, of other species. Check out the video interview, where host Eric R. Olson and John Platt also discuss The Revelator, my work on “Extinction Countdown,” and what technologies might work instead of a wall. Click now to watch the interview. President Wants to Tell the Polar Bears Where to Get Off Help Protect the Arctic Refuge Before It’s Too Late! NRDC -The Trump administration is closer than ever to tearing open the heart of Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for dangerous oil and gas drilling — and if they succeed, it will have devastating, irreversible consequences for our waters, wildlife, climate, and the region’s Gwich’in people. NRDC is fighting back in and out of the courtroom in an unprecedented battle to protect the Arctic Refuge and its fragile Arctic coastline. Trump is Not the 1st to Assault Env. Protection History of US Presidential Assaults on Environmental Health Protection Apr. 26, 2018 American Public Health Association - The Trump administration has undertaken an assault on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency critical to environmental health. This assault has precedents in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The early Reagan administration (1981–1983) launched an overt attack on the EPA, combining deregulation with budget and staff cuts, whereas the George W. Bush administration (2001–2008) adopted a subtler approach, undermining science-based policy. Wait, there’s more… Some Republicans Support Carbon Fee/Dividend Exceeding Paris Contain Forewords by: Ted Halstead, George P. Schultz, Lawrence Summers, Rob Walton, Christine Todd Whitman and Janet Yellen. The Baker-Shultz plan would achieve approximately 32% in greenhouse gas reductions by 2025, thereby exceeding our Paris commitment by a wide margin The Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan is not only the most environmentally ambitious plan, but also the most politically-viable. Why? Because it addresses the legitimate concerns of all key stakeholders in the climate debate and enables each to realize an important victory. Click to read the PDF from the Climate Leadership Council. Attention Humanists: You Have a Role to Play Ask What You Can Do for Your Climate(1) Apr. 18, 2017 -While the federal government is becoming a follower rather than a leader on climate change, humanists can fight on the state, local, and personal levels IF THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL, then climate change is personal, too. As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump campaigned against the Paris Agreement negotiated in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. With President Trump signing an executive order to roll back federal efforts to reduce global warming, humanists must do more at the state and local levels to fight climate change. If you’re up for it, there are many things you can do to help. Click now if you’re ready to learn more. We Can Take Active Role in the Climate Crisis Ask What You Can Do for Your Climate<2> Join a Climate Reality Chapter,and be part of a sustainable future. You’ve heard about “the future.” It’s not that far away, and your children and grandchildren will be living in it, long after you’re gone. Chapters give you the opportunity to draw on Climate Reality’s support and expertise, while creating and executing plans for climate action that make the most sense for your community. Already, Climate Reality chapters have become a vital force for progress, helping expand clean energy alternatives, tackling the legacy of fossil fuels in low-income communities, and pushing for carbon pricing policies, to name just a few of the many campaigns underway across the US. Click now if you’re ready to take action too. Dems to Fossil Fuel Contributions: No Thanks DNC Votes to Ban Fossil Fuel Company Donations June 12, 2018 -The move is a step toward purging oil, gas and coal industry influence on the Democratic Party’s climate policies. The Democratic National Committee voted over the weekend to ban donations from fossil fuel companies, HuffPost has learned. The resolution — proposed by Christine Pelosi, a party activist and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter — bars the organization from accepting contributions from corporate political action committees tied to the oil, gas and coal industries. The executive committee voted unanimously to approve the motion. Click now for more from the Huffington Post. Clean Energy Research Not a Priority White House Seeks 72% Cut to Clean Energy Research,Underscoring Its Preference for Fossil Fuels Feb. 1, 2018 -The Trump administration is poised to ask Congress for deep budget cuts to the Energy Department’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, slashing them by 72 percent overall in fiscal 2019, according to draft budget documents obtained by The Washington Post. Many of the sharp cuts would probably be restored by Congress, but President Trump’s budget, due out in February, will mark a starting point for negotiations and offer a statement of intent and policy priorities. Click now for the story from the Washington Post.	No Lessons Learned From Deepwater Horizon Trump Plan Would Open Nearly All the Gulf of Mexico to Oil Drilling Jan. 4, 2018 - The Trump administration on Thursday (Jan. 4) announced plans for the largest expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. history, putting up for lease federal waters in the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans and millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico, including protected areas in the eastern Gulf. Click now for article from azCentral. Clean Energy and Electric Cars Hit By GOP Tax Overhaul Hammers Clean Energy and Electric Cars Dec. 8, 2017 - Legislators from both chambers are now hashing out their differences in the reconciliation committee in hopes of delivering a final bill to the White House before the end of the year. Clean-energy lobbyists are scrambling to push back on provisions they and others fear could stunt development or deployment of technologies needed to lower the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Click now to read the M.I.T. Technology Review story. DOW's Campaign Contributions Stopped the Banning of Chlorpyrifos How Dow Chemical Influenced the EPA to Ignore the Scientific Evidence on Chlorpyrifos (Union of Concerned Scientists) -On March 29, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that his agency would decline to ban chlorpyrifos, despite years of scientific study and deliberation indicating that the pesticide poses a clear risk to children, farmworkers, and users of rural drinking water. This was a 180-degree turn from the science-based conclusion reached just a few months before by the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which found that chlorpyrifos has harmful effects on children’s brain development. Both EPA scientists and the American Academy of Pediatrics have urged the EPA to ban the insecticide. Click now to read on. The Top Ten Toxic Threats The E.P.A.’s Top 10 Toxic Threats, and Industry’s Pushback Oct. 21, 2017 - The E.P.A.has published a list of 10 toxic threats it will evaluate first under a law passed last year intended to crack down on hazardous chemicals. They are among 90 chemicals identified by the agency that may harm children, damage nerve tissue, cause cancer, contaminate the environment, accumulate in the bloodstream or show up in consumer products. As the review begins, industry and other interest groups are urging the E.P.A. to limit any restrictions. Click for the list that should not be on your top ten. Climate Change Collapsing Australia’s Ecosystems Ecosystems Across Australia Are Undergo Climate Change The Converstion Research, recently published in Nature Climate Change, describes a series of sudden and catastrophic ecosystem shifts that have occurred recently across Australia. CC Advisory Committee Dropped Administration Disbands Climate Change Advisory Committee Aug 20, 2017 - The Trumpv administration of has decided to disband a federal advisory panel on climate change - in a further sign of the White House's view on environmental policy. The panel is part of the National Climate Assessment, a group aimed at helping officials and policy makers integrate the US Government's climate change analysis into their long-term planning. Climate Skeptic Heads Top Science Post New USDA Research Head Thinks Climate Science Is 'Junk' July 20, 2017 - President Trump has nominated a well-known climate change doubter to the top science job at the Department of Agriculture. The nomination, which had been expected, was announced in a statement by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Sam Clovis, an early campaign adviser to Trump, will serve as undersecretary for research, education and economics. Is the State of the Great Lakes a State Problem? Trump Says 'Yes' - Congress Says 'No' July 14, 2017 - Together, the five lakes hold nearly one-fifth of the earth’s surface freshwater. They’re home to 3500 species of plants and animals, including 170 species of fish. Not to mention the drinking water for about 35 million people, in eight states plus Canada. They have been a major highway for transportation, trade and migration. And more than 1.5 million jobs are directly connected to the lakes. But the Trump administration views the health of the Great Lakes as a local issue. Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow and budget director Mick Mulvaney squared off at a budget hearing a couple months ago on the topic. You can watch the exchange here: Shades of White House Climate Denial 5 Shades of Climate Denial, All on Display in the White House June 9.2017 - - From ‘it’s not real’ to ‘it’s not urgent,’ take a tour through the many shades of climate change denial wielded by Donald Trump's administration. LCV Scorecard (Keeping Track of Congress) How Congress Voted on Environmental Issues The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) keeps track of how our elected officials are (or not) protecting us. Click now to catch up. Bi-Parisan Climate Solutions Caucus Republicans Who Care About climate change: 'They are done with the denial' Apr. 27, 2017 - The failure of American politics to deal with, or even coherently discuss, climate change was perhaps best illustrated when James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, took to the floor of the US Senate in February 2015 with a Ziploc bag and a mischievous grin. Make Your Voice Heard in Washington 5 Ways to Make Your Voice Heard, and 2 That Are Not Worth Your Time Jan. 30, 2017- As a new era in American politics begins, citizens across the political spectrum may find themselves engaging in some collective hand-wringing. No matter your political leanings, times are changing, and many people are clamoring to make their voices heard. Mr. Trump - Are You Listening? Trade Group Outlines Benefits of Geothermal in Paper for Trump Administration Jan. 23, 2017 - In the paper, “Geothermal is Good for America,” GEA said that there are 104 operating geothermal plants in the U.S. with a capacity of 3.7 GW, and there are more than 80 new projects in development. ”Geothermal delivers a triple bottom line to our energy system: It is an abundant domestic energy source, it brings economic benefits in the form of taxes and long-term, high-paying jobs, and it has one of the lowest Levelized Costs of Energy of all power sources in the United States,” the paper said. Sen. Inhofe, Big Oil and Big Problems Only a Slight Conflict? Senator James Inhofe is Chair of the Energy Committee. We should question how he can serve the best interests of the people he is supposed to be protecting, while his camaigns have been mostly funded by the fossil fuel industry. Click now to see what we mean.

Environmental (or Anti-Environmental)
Politics News Stories in the Past 60 Days
Democratic Contenders Chart Different Paths to Clean Energy Contenders Chart Different Paths to Clean Energy Nov. 13, 2019 (Scientific American) — Scientists say revolutionary changes in society can limit the worst effects of climate change. None stands out as a candidate for transformation more than the energy sector. Getting to net-zero emissions there—or close to it—is the easiest way to clear a path for decarbonization in other sectors such as housing and transportation. Put another way: It doesn’t make much sense to recharge an electric vehicle through an outlet connected to a coal-fired power plant. Click now to see where they stand. EPA: To Hell With Scientific Research EPA Plans to Limit Scientific Research Used in Writing Public Health Regulations Nov. 11, 2019 (CNN Politics)— The EPA plans to limit the scientific research that the government can use to form public health regulations, The New York Times reported Monday. A draft of the EPA's proposal would require scientists to disclose their raw data, including confidential medical records, in order for the agency to consider a study's conclusions. The move would complicate the enactment of new clean air and water regulations, which are largely rooted in academic studies that rely on confidentiality agreements because of personal health disclosures. The draft proposal expands on a previous version championed by then-Administrator Scott Pruitt, who lost his job last year amid a lengthy list of ethics controversies. But unlike the earlier draft, the new plan would apply retroactively, halting the further use of studies already cited by the EPA that don't comply with the new proposal, according to a separate EPA memo viewed by the Times. The Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice What Happened at the 1st Presidential Environmental Justice Forum? Nov. 9, 2019 (Mother Jones)— Only six candidates turned out for the first ever presidential forum on environmental justice at South Carolina State University on Friday night. Issues such as lead-contaminated water, food deserts, childhood asthma and proximity to polluting chemical plants and industrial pig farms disproportionately affect low-income communities, tribal nations and people of color. The Democratic candidates who participated were Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.); former members of Congress John Delaney and Joe Sestak; the billionaire Tom Steyer; and the author Marianne Williamson. Something 'Smelt' Funny About Trump's Interior Secretary Pick Interior Chief’s Lobbying Past Has Challenged the Agency’s Ethics Referees Nov. 9, 2019 (New York Times)— On the morning of Aug. 21, 2018, David Bernhardt, then the deputy interior secretary, wanted to attend a White House meeting on the future of a threatened California fish, the delta smelt — an issue upon which Mr. Bernhardt had been paid to lobby until he joined the Trump administration a year before. It was a sticky ethical issue, seemingly exemplifying the revolving door that has separated lobbying from policymaking in the nation’s capital for decades. So Mr. Bernhardt, who had, as a lobbyist, pressed to loosen delta smelt protections for a California water district, personally approached the Interior Department’s ethics referee. Virginia Democrats Scored Big for the Environment Virginia Democrats Campaigned on Their Green New Deal and Fighting Climate Change, and Won Nov. 6, 2019 (Vox)— Virginia’s efforts to fight climate change got a big boost after Tuesday’s election, with Democrats flipping both chambers of the state’s General Assembly. As part of its pre-election platform, Virginia’s Democratic party unanimously endorsed two major progressive environmental resolutions: They voted in favor of setting a target of net-zero carbon emissions for the state by 2050 and they endorsed the Green New Deal Virginia. Like the Green New Deal resolution introduced in the US Congress, Virginia’s version aims to move the state to 100 percent renewable energy while pursuing social welfare programs like job retraining for workers who would lose their jobs in the transition. Another Not-So-Bright-Idea From the Trump Administration Groups Sue Over Rollback of Lightbulb Regulations Nov. 5, 2019 (CNN Politics)— A coalition including environmental groups has asked a federal court to consider invalidating the Trump administration's rollback of regulations on light bulb efficiency. The administration's changes would overturn Obama-era requirements for more energy-efficient versions of several common light bulbs, including three-way incandescent, candle-shaped chandelier and recessed reflector bulbs. When the Trump administration overturned the Obama rules in September, they had not yet taken effect. The groups filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal appeals court to find that the administration violated a provision of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act that prevents the government from weakening efficiency standards. Trump's EPA Loves Coal Ash E.P.A. Weakens Rules On Toxic Water Pollution From Coal Plants Nov. 4, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward)— The Trump administration on Monday moved to weaken an Obama-era regulation aimed at limiting the seepage of toxic pollution into water supplies from the ash of coal burning power plants, a change that coal industry leaders say could keep plants open longer and which environmental groups fear will increase the risk of water contamination. Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued the proposed regulation, which relaxes rules set in 2015 imposing stringent inspection and monitoring rules at coal plants and requiring plants to install new technology to protect water supplies from arsenic, lead, selenium and other toxic effluent. Shumer Has a Plan to Make Cars Go Electric Cash for Carbon: Schumer Climate Plan Would Help Consumers Buy Electric Cars Oct. 24, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward)- Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, is preparing a $450 billion climate change initiative that aims to replace about a fifth of the nation’s traditional gasoline-powered vehicles with hybrid, electric or hydrogen fuel-cell cars and trucks in the next 10 years. Mr. Schumer’s proposal is far narrower than the economy-altering plans put forth by most of the Democratic presidential candidates, and it has no chance of passage in the current, Republican-led Senate. Senate launches bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus Senate Launches Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus Oct. 23, 2019 (Citizen’s Climate Lobby)-Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) have formed a bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the Senate. The news originally broke last month, and today the group has officially launched with a joint op-ed from the lawmakers. The senators’ op-ed, which was published today in The Hill, describes the caucus as “a bipartisan group of senators who, like the Americans we serve, believe Congress should play a central role in guiding America’s 21st century energy economy and addressing the challenge of a changing climate. Our caucus seeks to take the politics out of this important issue.” DOJ Sues California For Attempting to Tame Canada's Emissions Justice Dept. Sues California to Stop Climate Initiative From Extending to Canada Oct. 23, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward)- The Trump administration took another legal shot at California on Wednesday, suing to block part of the state’s greenhouse gas reduction program and limit its ability to take international leadership in curbing planet warming emissions. In a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of California, the Justice Department said that a regional system created by California’s air resources board, which caps planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions but lets corporations trade emissions credits within that cap, was unlawful because it included Quebec, Canada. The Justice Department cited the constitutional prohibition on states making their own treaties or agreements with foreign governments. Gee, How Come the Swamp Still Smells Funny? New Energy Secretary Fits Trend: Cabinet Dominated by Lobbyists Oct. 18, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward)- President Trump likes to say that people in his political orbit come straight out of central casting, “tough hombres” from far beyond the Capital Beltway ready to roil the swamp. Increasingly, though, his cabinet is full of lobbyists. On Friday came the latest lobbyist elevation. Out went Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the genial former governor of Texas and onetime Dancing with the Stars contestant. In came his deputy, Dan Brouillette, who spent much of his career as a senior vice president of the United Services Automobile Association, a financial services company, and at the Ford Motor Company. Farmers Want a Green New Deal - Surprise, Surprise 10,000 Farmers Want a Green New Deal Oct. 18, 2019 (Living On Earth)-A bipartisan coalition of over 10,000 farmers and ranchers from across the United States has signed on to a letter that urges Congress to support a Green New Deal. They’re asking for a massive overhaul of food and farming policy in order to address the climate crisis while providing economic security for independent family farms. Ronnie Cummins is a co-founder of Regeneration International, and an organizer of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers For a Green New Deal, and joins Host Jenni Doering to discuss. Click now read and/or listen to the story.	Climate Change Not Worth Discussing at the Upcoming G7 Climate Crisis Will Not Be Discussed at 2020 G7, Says Trump Official Oct. 17, 2019 (TheGuardian)-The climate crisis will not be formally discussed at the G7 summit in June next year, Donald Trump’s acting White House chief of staff said on Thursday. “Climate change will not be on the agenda,” Mick Mulvaney told reporters, without elaborating. Mulvaney announced that the 2020 summit of seven of the world’s most powerful industrialized countries will take place at the National Doral Miami, one of the president’s golf resorts in Florida, despite widespread ethics concerns and an ongoing impeachment inquiry into Trump’s conduct. Trump's Low Opinion of the Tongass Forest Service Trump Administration Proposes to Open Tongass to Logging Oct. 15, 2019 (Bloomberg Environment News) — More than 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, including large swaths of old-growth trees, would be opened to logging under a U.S. Forest Service proposal issued Oct. 15 that would exempt the entire forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule. The draft plan offers six different alternatives for the future of one of North America’s most carbon-dense temperate rainforests, according to a Forest Service news release. The Forest Service’s preferred option is to drop roadless protections for the Tongass, as requested by the state of Alaska. The Forest Service announced the draft plan Oct. 15, but the agency will made it available to the public on Oct. 18, Forest Service spokeswoman Babete Anderson said. Biden's Climate Change Record & Plan. Young Activists Want More On Climate Change, Biden Has a Record and a Plan. Young Activists Want More Oct. 9, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward)- When Michaelyn Mankel approached Joe Biden at an Iowa steak fry last month to demand dramatic action on climate change, the former vice president clasped the 24-year-old’s hands and assured her, “You’ve got a better deal from me than anybody.” He did, after all, introduce the very first climate change legislation in Congress, in 1986, before Ms. Mankel was born. He also helped to orchestrate the “green jobs” strategy under the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. He supported landmark regulations on coal plants and automobile tailpipe emissions as vice president, and helped to secure the Paris Agreement, the 2015 pact to limit the rise of global temperatures. His climate change plan would spend $1.7 trillion over a decade, impose a tax on greenhouse gases and aim to bring carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Trump's Latest Blow to the American Solar Industry Trump Administration Removes Bi-Facial Solar Module Tariff Exemption Oct. 7, 2019 (Renewable Energy World)- The Trump administration dealt a fresh blow to renewable energy developers on Friday by stripping away an exemption the industry was counting on to weather the president’s tariffs on imported panels. The U.S. Trade Representative said Friday it was eliminating a loophole granted about four months ago for bifacial solar panels, which generate electricity on both sides. They’ll now be subject to the duties Trump announced on imported equipment in early 2018, currently at 25%. The change takes effect Oct. 28. Farmers, Consumers, Activists Launch National Coalition for Green New Deal Linking Arms: Farmers, Consumers and Climate Activists Launch National Coalition for a Green New Deal Sept. 26, 2019 (Organic Consumers Association) - Last week, Organic Consumers Association (OCA), joined Regeneration International (an organization we helped co-found and continue to support) and the Sunrise Movement to officially launch the national coalition of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal. Five members of Congress joined us in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to call for a Green New Deal for farmers and ranchers. Earlier in the day, Organic Consumers Association delivered a letter to every member of Congress, signed by more than 500 individual farms, and 50 organizations representing more than 10,000 farmers and ranchers, asking Congress to support the Green New Deal Resolution. Click now to read all about it. Night-Blooming Cactus Won't Rape Us Anymore Trump’s Border Wall: Epitaph for an Endangered, Night-blooming Cactus? Sept. 26, 2019 (TheRevelator)-The decline of a rare cactus in a national park epitomizes the Trump administration’s failure to protect endangered species along the border. Construction is underway on a 30'high steel wall along Arizona’s southern border in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. As several reports have recently warned, the wall will hurt many endangered desert species, from Sonoran pronghorns to cactus ferruginous pygmy owls. To understand how the wall will further fragment habitats for these already-declining plants and animals, let’s go deep with one rare species that’s at grave risk: a cactus called the night-blooming cereus. Click now to see why we should care. Trump Administration Rolling Back 85 Environmental Rules 85 Environmental Rules Being Rolled Back Under Trump Sep. 12, 2019 (NY Times)- President Trump has made eliminating federal regulations a priority. His administration, with help from Republicans in Congress, has often targeted environmental rules it sees as burdensome to the fossil fuel industry and other big businesses. A New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts more than 80 environmental rules and regulations on the way out under Mr. Trump. Click now to see whagt they are. The Challenges of Carbon Tax Pricing The Problems and Politics of Carbon Tax Pricing Sept. 20, 2019 (EnergyCentral)-Even though it has been around since the 1970s, carbon tax has gained popularity as a policy measure only in recent times. While the fundamentals of a carbon tax are already known, several questions relating to its design and implementation remain. None, however, is more important than the one about its price. Put an unrealistically high tax cost and a country runs the risk of depressing productivity figures as consumers and industry pull back and GDP suffers. But a low carbon tax tantamounts to a token gesture that does not achieve much by way of a cut in carbon emissions. Click now for much more of the story. Why Doesn't Donald Trump Like Clean Water? Trump Administration Overturns Clean Water Regulation Sept. 16, 2019 (TheScientist)- On September 12, the Trump’s administration announced the repeal of a water regulation from President Barack Obama’s tenure that gave the EPA broader control of waterways and set limits on pollutants. The 2015 regulation, called the Waters of the United States rule, clarified the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act and allowed for greater government control of lakes, streams, and wetlands. The rule was designed to limit pollution in 60 percent of waterways, which included sources of drinking water for one-third of the United States. Now, farmers will no longer need a permit to use chemical pesticides and fertilizers that could flow into waterways, as reported in the New York Times. How 2020 Democratic Candidates Plan to Fight Climate Change A guide to How 2020 Democrats Plan to Fight Climate Change Sept. 12, 2019 (Vox.com)-Tactics include taxing carbon, prosecuting polluters, space mirrors, and trillions of dollars in investment. Ten Democratic candidates for president were back together for their third presidential debate on ABC, the first after the CNN climate town hall earlier this month. While the debate covered a wide range of issues, the town hall showed just how important climate change has become in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Click now to get up to speed. Trump’s Complete Lack of Concern for Endangered Wildlife Feds Finalize Plan to Open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Oil Drilling Sept. 12, 2019 (Los Angeles Times )-The Trump administration has just announced instal plan to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, giving the petroleum industry access to the pristine wild land for the first time. The plan would allow oil leasing on 1.56 million acres of the 19-million-acre refuge. The proposal — which would open the entire coastal plain to the energy industry — was seen as the most extreme of three options considered by the Interior Department. Click now for the rest of the bad news.