The Climate Minute: Keystone delay, and an empty Earth Day (PODCAST)

We discuss two big topics this week: the meaning of the Obama Administration’s  delay of the KXL pipeline decision and a feeling of malaise people may have around the meaning of Earth Day.

 

Late last Friday, the administration decided to indefinitely delay the KXL decision.  The decision might have been based on practical concerns , but others put it in context of the midterms. On balance, 350 got it’s assessment just about right.  Keep in mind that a protest in Washington D.C. called “Reject and Protect”   is in progress this weekend.

Earth Day occurred this week. Some commentators expressed frustration and disappointment with how and why we celebrate this holiday in the 21^st Century. Two interesting examples of this train of though are from Joe Romm who says things like:

I don’t worry about the earth. I’m pretty certain the earth will survive the worst we can do to it. I’m very certain the earth doesn’t worry about us. ,,,.We need a new way to make people care about the nasty things we’re doing with our cars and power plants. At the very least, we need a new name.

Another thought provoking view comes from Wen Stephenson  who  calls for a new kind of movement:

Many of us, rather than retreat into various forms of denial and fatalism, have reached the conclusion that something more than “environmentalism” is called for, and that a new kind of movement is the only option. That the only thing, at this late hour, offering any chance of averting an unthinkable future—and of getting through the crisis that’s already upon us—is the kind of radical social and political movement that has altered the course of history in the past. A movement far less like contemporary environmentalism and far more like the radical human rights, social justice and liberation struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

 

Stephenson makes a compelling argument, and is his piece is well worth the effort to read it. In fact, The Nation has an entire issue devoted to climate this month, with articles by MSNBC's Chris Hayes  on The New Abolitionist,  the provocative Naomi Klein and an interesting piece on legal suits against Big Carbon by Dan Zegart.

 

Because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is our patriotic duty as citizens to speak out, we must insist that the United States put a price on carbon.

Thanks for listening.

…Ted McIntyre