- Supreme Court Justice John Stevens announces his retirement, opening the door for Obama to nominate a second Justice. Grist explains what this means for environmentalism.
- Is environmentalism not enough, is global warming out of our control, should we focus on adaption rather than mitigation? Ecology.com explores this topic, and discusses Derrick Jensen’s version of environmentalism.
- An international agreement to address climate change is becoming more and more unlikely after Copenhagen. Reuters covers why the international community has failed to reach any agreements and what may lie ahead for any sort of global cooperation.
- In California, AB 32 sets greenhouse gas emission targets. AB 32 was passed and signed into law in 2006 and is now under attack from conservative groups as the current economic recession has shifted the public focus from environmentalism to economics.
- The US Wall Street bailout is costing tax payers billions of dollars. This is money not spent on ensuring that our environment is a hospitable place in the future. I wonder if the recession is worse for environmentalism because of how much money is being spent on returning to the status quo, or better for environmentalism because it created a crisis that caused people to rethink their resource use. SourceWatch published a chart explaining the cost to the taxpayers of the US Wall Street bailout.
- The American Petroleum Institute defends the petroleum industry and attempts to make themselves look like the good guys. Explore their site and read their report if you wish.
- Grist has a section called “This week in comically evil corporate behavior.”
- Two US Senators are nominated to join the Chevron Board of Directors.
- Chevron is now testing solar technology. Petroleum companies keep flirting with alternative energy sources, but they will still milk as much money from hydrocarbons as they can before giving it up.