Just kidding. He didn’t make one of his Iran-style missteps.

But when a Republican campaigns on an environmental issue, it makes news. To that effect, John McCain signaled a split with both the Bush administration and environmentalists in a major global warming speech today.

The Arizona Senator and presidential nominee declares climate change undeniable and urgent, saying that the U.S. hasn’t acted quickly enough.

George W. Bush famously refused to sign the Kyoto global warming accord. McCain pledges to return America to international negotiations.

In the new campaign ad below, which he will begin airing this week, McCain places himself between what he describes as two warring factions on climate change. He paints it not only as an environmental issue, but a national security problem.

John McCain says he would set limits on greenhouse gases and allow the sale of rights of excess emissions - known as a cap and trade system.

Continue reading this article …

The long-term goal may be saving Earth, but a short-term one for Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is winning the backing of Al Gore.

The former Vice President, who won a Nobel prize for his work to combat rising temperatures, is also one of the superdelegates and one of the most influential Democratic Party leaders likely to determine who wins the nomination.

So the dueling candidates praise Gore during campaign speeches, offer up roles for him in future administrations, and, of course, keep in touch.

“They both call. And I appreciate that fact,” Gore said on 60 Minutes.

Barack Obama says he keeps in regular contact with Al Gore and has pledged to make him a major player on global warming in an Obama administration.

“I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem,” Obama said.

Hillary Clinton says she does not know whether Al Gore wanted to get back into government but is certain the American people would welcome it.

“I am very dependent upon the work that Al Gore has done for so many years on behalf of climate change,” the former First Lady said.

Al Gore’s spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, declined to comment on the Obama offer but was complimentary about all three of the presidential candidates.

“Former Vice President Gore thinks that both candidates are very strong. Both of them have offered plans to address the worsening climate crisis … as has Senator John McCain,” she said. “It’s a real turnaround to have candidates on both sides of the aisle offering, you know, solutions and plans to the climate crisis.”

Gore, who narrowly lost the 2000 election to George W. Bush, has dedicated most of his professional life since then to fighting climate change.

Although he may not be eager to get back into the political fray as the tight race between Obama and Clinton rages on, Gore definitely has an agenda: to make certain that global warming on the top of the president’s priority list.

Continue reading this article …

Experts are taking heed at Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer’s statement that the world is running out of cheap oil.

Here is what van der Veer writes about the two new future energy scenarios that have been developed by the Shell corporation:

“We are experiencing a step-change in the growth rate of energy demand due to rising population and economic development. After 2015, easily accessible supplies of oil and gas probably will no longer keep up with demand. The future will be either a scramble for resources or a cautious, well-planned ride into a changing future.”

Given the absurd profits Shell and its industry counterparts are making, it is the clearest acknowledgment of the reality of peak oil, and should sound alarms throughout Washington and everyday Americans, too.

Says the group Climate Progress: “The oil company with the best strategic planning says the day of reckoning is nigh.” Indeed. The question is, who has the best plan to do something about it?

As we’ve learned from years of inactivity from government officials, talk is cheap when it comes to climate change.

State of the Union rhetoric is one thing, curbing carbon emissions and developing alternate energy sources quite another.

As George W. Bush prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address Monday, a group of nearly 200 U.S. climate scientists, policy experts and mayors are calling on the president - and his potential successors - to take stronger action to combat global warming.

The State of the Climate paper is an offshoot of the Presidential Climate Action Project - or PCAP - which last December released a report suggesting ways the next president could begin to tackle climate change within the first 100 days of his or her taking office.

In places like Greenland, climate change is not a far-away problem.

One signer, James Hornaday, the mayor of Homer, Alaska, has seen massive glaciers melt away, bark beetle infestations destroy large swaths of spruce trees and encroaching sea levels erode 2.5 feet of shoreline every year - for the last 40 years.

Humans, of course, are visual creatures. If you can’t see it, what’s the harm? But imagine if that happened to, say, New York City …

Scary. Follow this link for more climate change simulations and see if that changes your perspective on this issue a little.

For the first time in its history, the U.S. Supreme Court has waded into the political debate on global warming.

Under the George W. Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has argued that carbon dioxide and the like aren’t pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and therefore, the agency has no power to regulate them.

But in a sweeping 5-4 decision released Monday, the Supreme Court rejected that position, declaring that Clean Air Act gives the EPA the authority to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion, and was joined by Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

The majority decided motor vehicle emissions make a “meaningful contribution to greenhouse gas concentrations” and thus, to global warming.

“A well-documented rise in global temperatures has coincided with a significant increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Respected scientists believe the two trends are related,” Stevens wrote.

Environmental groups applauded the Court’s decision.

“It’s an important signal that the Bush administration cannot continue to ignore the problem of global warming for political reasons when the science is so clear and there’s clear pressure from the public to move forward,” said Josh Dorner, spokesperson for the Sierra Club in Washington D.C.

“An enormous victory for the fight against global warming,” said Doug Kendall, whose group Community Rights Counsel filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“The Supreme Court has recognized both the importance of the problem and the need for the federal government to act on the solution,” Kendall said, arguing the decision is a major victory for states who want to rely on the congressional Clean Air Act.

“The Supreme Court’s decision, in Massachusetts v. EPA, repudiates the Bush administration’s do-nothing policy on global warming,” said David Doniger, Natural Resources Defense Council’s attorney in the case.

Greenpeace, the well-known environmental group, viewed the decision as a political victory against the administration’s policy on climate change.

“This ruling shows the degree to which the Bush administration continues to be out of step, not only with the science, but with congress and public opinion,” said Chris Miller, director of global climate change at Greenpeace.

“All of these years that the Bush administration has been in office, instead of trying to find out ways that they can combat global warming, they’ve been denying the science, they’ve been fighting lawsuits … so this is a big defeat for them, and it’s also a big defeat for the automotive industry that spent a lot of time, energy and effort trying to beat this back,” said Miller.

Continue reading at ABCNews.com …

Al Gore has a plan.

What that is, only he knows.

But when he says he has “no plan to run again,” he knows very well that by not taking himself out of the 2008 race completely, he can remain in the Democratic field (if only in speculation) - and continue to enjoy the unparalleled media buzz and positive PR he’s receiving to advance his first priority: global warming.

From what we gather, most of Gore’s friends believe he will not run, that he has no desire to welcome back the scrutiny a top-tier candidate has to withstand (see Mrs. “1984,” the current frontrunner).

Assuming that’s true, Gore will not say he’s out because he’ll then lose some of the resources needed to fight global warming, maintain his role as climate change ambassador of Earth and respected elder of the Democratic Party.

Regardless of his intentions, Al Gore returned to Capitol Hill today, asking lawmakers to consider their place in history when rising to the challenge of fighting what he calls a “climate crisis.”

“I promise you a day will come when our children and grandchildren will look back and they will ask one of two questions. Either they will ask, ‘What in God’s name were they doing? Didn’t they see the evidence?’”

Continue reading this article …

Sure, it’s becoming the “in” thing to recognize global warming and say we should do something to stop it.

But we all know that the only thing that will make Washington really take notice and act to solve the climate change crisis is the unprecedented prospect of millions of committed citizens taking action.

It’s time to join Al Gore and make that happen.

Follow this link to virtually sign a postcard and the former Vice President will personally deliver it to Washington… tomorrow.

In what may be the blockbuster hit of the spring political season, Gore is testifying to Congress tomorrow - twice. Not only is his testimony expected to influence the direction of coming legislation, but it may also reveal something of his intentions on the 2008 presidential race.

That said, we’re postponing our weekly rankings of the Democratic presidential candidates until after Al Gore’s testimony. One way or another, this is certainly going to be interesting.

Presidential candidate Tom Vilsack offered a plan Tuesday to ween the nation off of fossil fuels and roll back greenhouse gas emissions to a fraction of current levels.

The former Iowa governor, who has tried to get Barack Obama to debate him in an attempt to gain greater exposure, said he would force new power plants to emit no carbon dioxide — one of the greenhouse gases blamed for rising earth temperatures — by 2020.

Vilsack said as president he would cap U.S. carbon dioxide emissions and create a credit-trading program to meet the cap.

“Energy security is the single most important issue facing America today,” Vilsack said.

“It affects us every minute of every day. It affects our health, our personal finances, our economy and our quality of life.”

Among his proposals was a 75 percent reduction in greenhouse gases produced by the United States by 2050, principally through a mandatory “cap and trade” program among businesses and other institutions.

President George W. Bush made a similar pledge to cap carbon emissions in his 2000 campaign, but broke it in 2001 after getting elected.

Bush continues to oppose mandatory emission caps, arguing that industry through development of new alternative energy technology can deal with the problem at a lesser cost.

We applaud Vilsack’s devotion to this monumentally important issue, but worry that his campaign will never gain the momentum needed to bring it enough attention. Anyone seen Al Gore lately?

[Cartoon above by Linda Eddy, courtesy of Iowapresidentialwatch.com. Follow the link to view many more of her creations.]

ABC News reports that 45 nations have answered France’s call for a new environmental body to slow inevitable global warming and protect the planet, perhaps with policing powers to punish violators.

Missing, of course, are the United States (the world’s biggest polluter) and the booming nations vying for that title, China and India.

The charge led by French President Jacques Chirac came a day after the release of an authoritative and grim scientific report that said global warming is “very likely” caused by mankind and that climate change will continue for centuries even if heat-trapping gases are reduced.

It was the strongest language ever used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose last report was issued in 2001. The document, a collaboration of hundreds of scientists and government officials, was approved by 113 nations, including the United States.

Despite the report’s dire outlook, scientists say the worst disasters may be avoided if strong action is taken soon.

“It is our responsibility. The future of humanity demands it,” Chirac said at a French-sponsored environment conference Saturday.

Without naming the U.S. directly, Chirac expressed frustration that “some large, rich countries still must be convinced” and are “refusing to accept the consequences of their acts.”

Chirac, 74, is seeking to leave his mark on international affairs before he leaves office, likely in May, though his own environmental record over 12 years as France’s president is spotty.

The French head of state won praise from former Vice President Al Gore, whose Oscar-nominated An Inconvenient Truth - a documentary on the perils of global warming - has garnered worldwide attention.

“We are at a tipping point,” Gore told the conference via videophone. “We must act, and act swiftly. Such action requires international cooperation.” Continue reading this article …

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his State of the State address Tuesday, assumed the role of director of “post-partisanship,” outlining an ambitious political agenda that will prove complex, costly, and extremely difficult, but promises big results in critical areas from health care to the environment.

As perhaps only he can (at least without widespread ridicule), the Governator defined the task before him as epic in proportions, urging that the challenge be accepted because the Golden State is “the modern equivalent of the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta” - the epicenter of the ideas and strength needed to deliver a brighter future.

The governor’s lofty goals emerged just months after a campaign in which many Californians wondered which Schwarzenegger might emerge for a full term:

• The brash, hard-core conservative who called Democrats “girlie men” and publicly engaged the all-powerful teachers union in a battle (he lost)
• The social progressive who helped deliver landmark legislation on global warming and increased the minimum wage.

The answer this week seemed to suggest something for every audience: He pushed to reduce greenhouse gases and expand health care - both signature Democratic issues - while proposing to increase water storage and to reduce welfare spending, proposals sure to appeal more to Republicans.

Arnold the Collaborator has officially arrived.

For all the criticism over his spending cuts, Schwarzegger appears ready to champion aggressive environmental policy. California shall soon create the world’s first global warming pollution standard for transportation fuels, ratcheting down fuel carbon content 10 percent by 2020, he vowed.

The new standard could have implications for the auto industry and change the way gasoline is produced around the globe. Environmentalists hailed it as a way to reduce one of the state’s chief sources of greenhouse gas emissions and kick-start fledgling alternative fuel technologies.

Continue reading this article …