Tag Archives: Obama

Inside Obama’s Clean Power Plan

TimMcDonnellPresident Obama announced a bold new climate plan last week. The plan is being widely heralded by environmental advocates, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, pilloried by coal states and fossil fuel companies who are actively mounting legal challenges. This week on Sea Change Radio we talk with two environmental reporters, Alex Guillén from Politico and Tim McDonnell of Mother Jones. They provide an overview of the climate plan and its goals, discuss some political and legal responses, and talk about how it may be viewed globally as we anticipate the UN Climate Summit in Paris.

 

Correcting the Record on the “Cleantech Crash”

JoeRommKatieFehrenbacherIf you watched last weekend’s 60 Minutes piece on the so called “Cleantech Crash,” you might have taken a moment to check the channel and make sure you weren’t watching Fox News. The story focuses almost exclusively on failed companies that have received government support with no coverage of clean technology successes, no information on the success/failure ratio of other venture capital investments, and no mention of all the taxpayer money that goes to support traditional, polluting energy technology. Instead the venture is depicted as an unmitigated fiasco and an embarrassing folly on the part of President Obama.

This most recent episode of the popular CBS news show has been widely criticized as having a Fox News-y flavor. It’s not entirely surprising when you consider that the current president of CBS News, David Rhodes, spent about 15 years at Fox News. Host Alex Wise‘s guests today on Sea Change Radio are Joe Romm of Climate Progress and formerly of the US Dept. of Energy, and Katie Fehrenbacher a senior writer at GigaOM. Each of them wrote a response to the 60 Minutes show, and today they offer their takes on how the news giant got it wrong, from interviewing the wrong people, to providing no actual data, to pulling out that old, rusty lightning-rod, Solyndra.

The War on Empathy: Marion Nestle and George Lakoff

MarionNestleGeorgeLakoffRemember when President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and “empathy” was transformed by some political commentators into a dirty word? This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk to two giants in their respective fields who think empathy is probably pretty important, especially when it comes to policy.

First, host Alex Wise talks to Marion Nestle, a noted nutritionist and author whose latest book digs into the power of cartoons to drive home complex arguments for fighting food insecurity issues in this country. Next, progressive linguist extraordinaire George Lakoff discusses how liberals need to improve their messaging to convince people that policies that help people are actually a good idea.

George Lakoff podcast exclusive (not for broadcast)

podcast-iconGeorgeLakoffIn this podcast exclusive, more from Sea Change Radio host Alex Wise‘s interview with George Lakoff. In the discussion, Prof. Lakoff talks about the different approaches to messaging and framing by both Democrats and Republicans, the attack on empathy, and the Obama Administration’s embrace of the term “ObamaCare.”

Inside The Mind of Mitt: Romney and the Environment

In the past Sea Change Radio has sought the input of journalists and policy-makers on President Obama’s environmental record. So far, however, we have not looked at his challenger, Mitt Romney. Many onlookers find themselves baffled as they try to make sense of this candidate’s positions on multiple topics, including climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency, and energy policy.  This week on Sea Change Radio, host Alex Wise talks with environmental journalist Neela Banerjee. A Washington DC-based reporter for the LA Times and Chicago Tribune, Banerjee helps shed some light on the Republican candidate who wants so badly to lead the United States. She discusses Romney’s past and current environmental positions and we get a glimpse of what a hypothetical Romney presidency might look like from a sustainability perspective.

Environmental Journalist Jeff Goodell on Politics, Policy & Coal

If you could get the President’s attention for just long enough to tell him the ten things you’d like him to do to save the planet, or at least put us on a more sustainable path, what would you say? This week on Sea Change Radio, host Alex Wise talks with environmental author and journalist, Jeff Goodell.  He expounds on his list, recently published in Rolling Stone, of the ten things President Obama could do now, without having to wrestle with Congress, which would have a significant positive environmental impact.  He also shares a small bit of the wisdom contained in his 2006 book, Big Coal, helping debunk the myth of “Clean Coal,” elucidating the perils of mountain-top removal coal mining, and discussing the role that railroad companies play in energy prices in the United States.

The Future of Electricity

In 1880, Thomas Edison patented a system for the distribution of electricity that within 2 years was providing power through a grid to parts of lower Manhattan. How far have we come since then? According to this week’s guests, not far enough. This week on Sea Change Radio, host Alex Wise first talks to sustainability consultant Ted Howes who explains the direction utility companies should be taking to work smarter, not harder, and why this smart grid technology is meeting with some resistance. Then we hear from Danny Kennedy, the founder of Sungevity, one of the solar companies whose “Glo-bama” campaign successfully advocated for the re-installation of solar panels on the White House. He talks about the powerful statement that is made when a US president decides to install solar, or, in the case of Ronald Reagan, reject it.

ViewPoint: Don Bartlett on a Federal Reserve for Health Care

donaldbarlettThe investigative reporting team of Don Bartlett and Jim Steele has been looking under the hood of issues vital to Americans since 1971. One of these has been health care. Their 2004 book, [amazon-product text=”Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business–and Bad Medicine” type=”text”]0767910753[/amazon-product], examined How Health Care in America Became Big Business — and Bad Medicine, as the subtitle of the book goes. One recommendation they made in the book was for a new independent independent agency, to manage health care. Read the show transcript

Envisioning a Green Economy

joelmakower

This week, green business guru Joel Makower encourages us to envision success in creating a clean, sustainable economy that averts climate catastrophe and improves our environment, communities, and lives.  And shareholder activist John Harrington urges banks bailed out with Troubled Asset Relief Program funding to make sure they stabilize US economic security.

Read the show transcript

After Capitalism: PROUT as a Sustainable, Democratic Economic Model

dadamaheshvarananda

[amazon-product align=”right”]1877762067[/amazon-product]Today, Dada Maheshvarananda meditates on the alternative economic model of Progressive Utilization Theory, or PROUT. Joe Romm of Climate Progress analyzes the climate resolve of the Obama Administration. Lisa Woll of the Social Investment Forum proposes an Office for Innovation in Corporate Social Responsibility to the Obama Administration.  And auto and environment expert Jim Motavalli comments on the significance of President Obama’s executive order directing the EPA to reconsider its refusal to grant California a waiver allowing it to regulate greenhouse gases from autos.

Read the show transcript