The horrendous impact of Hurricane Sandy is putting climate change back on the political radar just ahead of election day. A growing number of politicians are speaking out on the need for public policy that addresses the impacts of extreme weather events caused by climate change.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Michael Bloomberg has endorsed President Obama. Bloomberg’s endorsement is significant because in addition to being a business leader, he was the first Republican governor of New Jersey, and he is now the conservative independent mayor of New York City.
I found myself deep in one of India’s remote tribal areas, standing on a hilltop shaking hands with one of the country’s leading green architects. A half-finished community assembly hall constructed out of hand-shaped red mud bricks stood in the background as more and more members of the tribal community arrived to see what was happening.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie showed his support for President Obama after Hurricane Sandy. This should come as no surprise as Christie disagrees with the GOP’s stance on climate change.
In a stunning move, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed the re-election of Barack Obama almost solely because of the issue of climate change. In a piece on the Bloomberg news web site, he said that the destruction caused by hurricane Sandy had led him to his decision.
As the US election draws near voters need to acknowledge that there are staggering costs associated with ignoring climate change. Although Republicans claim to be advocates of fiscal responsibility, challenger Mitt Romney has made it clear that he has no intention of addressing climate change.
Hurricane Sandy wreaked massive destruction on the U.S. east coast. What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that this super-storm traversed a section of ocean that is typically too cold to form hurricanes.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have presented two radically different visions. While environmentalists have criticized both candidates, it should be obvious that one is clearly better than the other. Obama’s campaign slogan is “Forward” while Romney’s policy agenda can best be described as “Backwards”.
The Daily Beast ranked the greenest legislators to identify the most “eco-friendly” politicians in the US. To compile this list they started with the most recent annual scoring of legislators’ environmental records from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). Here is the list of the 20 greenest politicians in America.
On Tuesday September 4, 2012, Democrats opened their national convention by defending President Obama’s record and asking Americans to be patient. In their first four years in office, the Obama administration’s green efforts have been resisted by unprecedented Republican obstructionism and an electorate misinformed about the science of climate change.
