Hilary Clinton is our Last Best Hope of Tackling Climate Change

Anyone interested in climate action needs to appreciate that Hilary Clinton is our last best hope. Clinton has emerged as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and she is a far better choice than the Republican candidate Donald Trump. To get a handle on what is at stake, voters need to understand that without US involvement, efforts to reign-in climate change are doomed to fail. Clinton has recently received endorsements from the greenest candidate in this election cycle Tom O'Malley and Potus himself, President Barack Obama.

A Parting Letter from Energy Secretary Steven Chu

In a February 1, 2013 letter to Energy Department employees, (see below) Energy Secretary Steven Chu highlighted the tremendous progress of the last four years, and announced his decision to not serve a second term as Secretary.  In addition to reviewing his agency's achievements Chu squarely took aim at critics of the administration's renewable energy investments. 

The fossil fuel industry and their Republican minions attacked Chu for his support of renewable energy. Their attacks focused specifically on the failure of Solydra, even though a year long investigation revealed no evidence of wrong doing. Overall  the Obama administration's investments in clean energy have been very successful with a failure rate of less than 1 percent. 

Despite the witch-hunt, Chu's accomplishments are many and the villainous intent of those arrayed against him should be obvious to all. 

Video - Steven Chu and Bill Gates Discuss America's Energy Future

In this February 2012 video Bill Gates and Energy Secretary Steven Chu discuss how America can meet and prosper from 21st century global energy challenges. Moderated by John Podesta. Recorded at the ARPA-E.

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Canadian Federal Provincial Energy Conference on Resource Exploitation

In the middle of July Canada's energy ministers met in Kananaskis, Alberta to discuss creating a national energy strategy and opportunities in the mining sector. The annual conference between federal, provincial and territorial officials was held between July 16th and 19th.

Predictably, Conservative Federal Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver said it was "in the interest of all Canadians, from coast to coast, to exploit the enormous natural resources we have."

For pro-oil Conservatives, now is the time to push ahead with an environmentally hazardous resource exploitation policy. After the Conservative election victory earlier this year, many companies associated with the old energy economy are counting on a regulatory environment that expedites the exploitation of Canada's natural resources.

Canada is a Dirty Energy Superpower

At the federal provincial energy conference in July, Canada's energy ministers agreed on the broad strokes of a plan to make Canada a dirty energy superpower. The plan is to squeeze as many petrodollars as they can out of the tar sands which some have described as the most environmentally destructive project on earth.

Normal oil is very harmful to the environment but tar sands oil emits even more heat-trapping and toxic air pollution when it’s produced and refined. Dr. Hansen – America’s top climate scientist – has said that full exploitation of Canada’s tar sands would constitute a “game over” scenario for efforts to solve climate change.