This week data showed that global economic growth and increases in carbon pollution are no longer linked. That means a future built on clean energy is possible. That good news was accompanied by the President’s ban of off-shore drilling and a change of heart by 100 of the 152 Massachusetts Representatives. They now support legislation that can help our solar industry survive. Listen in.  

The Constitution says the President “shall” appoint justices to the Supreme Court, and so he did. This week Mr. Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland.  Of course, inquiring Climate Hawks want to know: what does this mean for the fight against global warming? The big issue is the legal basis of the President’s Clean Power Plan, which will inevitably be decided by the Supreme Court. Listen in as we discuss.

Fifty-six Climate Hawks arrested near Seneca Lake protesting natural gas storage, plus twenty-one Florida mayors demanding a realistic discussion of climate in the Presidential campaign add up to a growing movement. Listen in as we discuss the week’s events.

Some high school kids skipped class and went to an Oregon courthouse to demand their constitutional rights. Kids these days!  These young activists are correct in recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to protect the “public trust.” We discuss the background, plus the latest US-Canada move to limit methane emissions. Listen in!

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Recently Leonardo diCarpio took a stroll down the Oscar red carpet. He gave a passionate call to action on climate change in his acceptance speech. For his part Bill Gates made a visit to a planet where miracles still happen and called for new technologies to address climate change. (Note to Bill, we did that already!) We discuss all this, and the MA Power Forward meeting to be held at MCAN’s upcoming conference.

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Building a clean energy future means creating good policy in the present. We discuss pipeline, wind and solar battles right here in Massachusetts.

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Editor’s Note: Here is a better version of the podcast. Thanks to Dan for tipping us off and sorry for any ear-pain.

In the growing nation-wide war on solar power, one insidious argument made by the utilities is that people with solar panels on their roofs are somehow ‘free riders’ taking advantage of their fellow ratepayers. This is a psychological ploy to pit ratepayers against each other, while the utilities reap the benefits of continued climate stalemate. The reality is that solar power provides benefits to the grid that the utilities don’t want you to think about. We think about them anyway and conclude that Massachusetts should encourage a vibrant, flourishing solar power industry.

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In the growing nation-wide war on solar power, one insidious argument made by the utilities is that people with solar panels on their roofs are somehow ‘free riders’ taking advantage of their fellow ratepayers. This is a psychological ploy to pit ratepayers against each other, while the utilities reap the benefits of continued climate stalemate. The reality is that solar power provides benefits to the grid that the utilities don’t want you to think about. We think about them anyway and conclude that Massachusetts should encourage a vibrant, flourishing solar power industry.

(REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR THE UPCOMING ANNUAL CONFERENCE! )

The President’s Clean Power Plan is on a steady path to the Supreme Court. By June of 2017, the constitutionality of the Plan will be determined. The court making that determination may have only eight members, or it might have a new ninth member who will have a big impact on the final ruling. We discuss the climate implications of who that ninth justice might be, and how it all might play out. (Emphasis on the word might.) Listen in!

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Boom. The passing of Justice Scalia quickly went from a sad event for his family to a political street fight. The transition happened really quickly - like in about 60 minutes. By last Saturday evening, the Senate leadership warned your President from exercising his Constitutional responsibility and forbade him from even making a nomination. Wow. So much for ‘reverence for the Constitution.’

There are many important questions before the Court- from abortion to immigration to affirmative action- that will be impacted for good or ill by the decisions made over the next year. From a Climate Hawk’s perspective the crucial question is the fate of the President’s Clean Power Plan. For background on the Court’s damaging recent decision to issue a “stay” of the CPP, listen to our podcast from last Friday. In today’s show we discuss the implications of Scalia’s passing on the likelihood that the President’s plan will survive.

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