By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Surely the Democratic tent is big enough to accommodate all generations and to take the best bits of each factions climate defense plans and blend them into supportable legislation that puts the necessary policies and programs into place. Every generation depends upon it.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
It's hardly a surprise that the coronavirus pandemic is controlling politics up and down Pennsylvania from Capitol Hill to the White House. The president assumed a more somber tone during the week, although he continued to make misstatements about the pandemic and what the government was doing about it.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
The world is not doing well in its efforts to meet the existing voluntary goals of the Paris climate accord—targets that collectively were known to be inadequate from the day the accord first came into force.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
For the first time in a very long time, a significant energy bill will be debated in the Senate during the week of March 1st. The legislation, The American Energy Innovation Act (AEIA, S. 2657), is the product of a collaboration between Senators Murkowski (R-AK) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
According to a report by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, the financial services sector stands to lose up to $1 trillion if it does not react to climate change quickly enough and is forced to adhere to policy levers like a carbon tax.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
House Minority Leader McCarthy (R-CA) announced the first tranche of Republican initiatives intended to combat climate change. Although modest by comparison to the magnitude of the problem or the Democrats’ CLEAN Future Act, the mere mention that Earth’s warming poses a problem is extraordinary given the denialist position of McCarthy and other Congressional conservatives a few short months ago.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Although Biden lost Iowa, he won the endorsement of the 775,000-member International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) while on his way to New Hampshire. It was an unusually early endorsement for the union. In 2008 and 2016, the IBEW waited until Obama and Clinton had more or less secured the nomination. It seems Biden’s poor Iowa showing was as unnerving for the union as it was for Biden.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Recognizing that it is no longer prudent or wise to continue playing the denial card Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been attempting to bring House Republicans in from the cold on climate change. It appears that his closed-door discussions with certain members of the caucus have begun to pay dividends.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Over the past several weeks, I’ve included clips on the efforts of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to bring House Republicans in from the cold on climate change. McCarthy’s change of heart is likely attributable to polling numbers that clearly indicate Republicans are vulnerable on this issue with young suburban voters. The suburbs are showing themselves as fertile Democratic fields because of changing demographics.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
The Trump administration has gone to great pains to purge Obama-era science advisers from federal advisory boards and replace them with their own. Trump’s scientists seem to have the integrity many of his administrative appointees, e.g., EPA Administrator Wheeler lack.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Impeachment continues to dominate the news in Washington. The Senate is in session and is currently debating the rules of engagement in the trial phase of Trump’s impeachment. It will be a while yet before the actual trial begins.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
More than four years ago, 21 youthful plaintiffs asked a federal court to rule a habitable environment a protected right under the US Constitution. On January 17, 2020, a divided three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals told them they didn’t have standing to pursue their case and that there was nothing the court could do to redress the legitimate harms they had suffered...