Obama Victory, Sandy Give Enviros Hopes For Climate Change Action
President Obama actually mentioned climate change in his victory speech last night.
President Obama actually mentioned climate change in his victory speech last night.
In addition to defeats of California's GMO-Labelling and Michigan's clean energy measures, voters approved rebuilding a Seattle seawall and a Colorado city's fracking ban and defeated a measure to remove California's Hetch Hetchy dam.
"Storm-weary residents across the New York and New Jersey area encountered confusion and long lines as they went to cast ballots in the presidential election on Tuesday, and regional officials began scrambling to prepare for a new weather threat due as early as Wednesday."
Voters in most cases Tuesday elected candidates supported by environmentalists for their positions on climate change and clean energy. The list of "Climate Heroes 2012" was drawn up by a coalition called "Citizens Determined to Elect Clean Energy Champions." The coalition was led by people like Bill McKibben. Below are results for candidates listed as "Climate Heroes."
Five House members targetted by the League of Conservation Voters for their denial of climate change took heavy hits in Tuesday's election. Defeated were Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY 24), Francisco Canseco (R-TX 23), and Joe Walsh (R-IL 8). The races for two others, Dan Benishek (R-MI 1) and Dan Lungren (R-CA 7) remained too close to call late into the evening.
"Beset by subtle biases, haunted by a work-family imbalance, or frustrated by an ability to give adequate voice to their science, women are struggling to find their place in academia, with consequences for all of us."
"For more than a century, for good or ill, New Jersey has led the nation in coastal development. Many of the barrier islands along its coast have long been lined by rock jetties, concrete sea walls or other protective armor. Most of its coastal communities have beaches only because engineers periodically replenish them with sand pumped from offshore. Now much of that sand is gone."
"While Tuesday’s election may not break the national logjam over how to address climate change, a few states will take decisive action on energy policy in the coming week."
"Elected officials in New York and New Jersey scrambled Monday to enable displaced citizens to vote in the election on Tuesday, relocating scores of coastal polling places that had become unusable because of power failures, flooding or evacuations."
"DONNA — The source of the toxic chemicals in the fish of the Donna Canal and reservoir is still a mystery almost 20 years after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started looking. But residents of the South Texas town of Donna are still eating the fish laden with PCBs despite a ban and warning signs along the canal."