January 18th, 2010
From Danna Moore, our Stakeholder Campaigns Director:
Americans are less supportive of climate change action than people in other countries. This disconnect makes it unlikely the U.S. will pass meaningful policy before the next international meeting and American politicians need to assume more of a leadership role.
It is clear that worldwide support for serious action on climate change remains robust even during a global recession. A recent Globescan Survey polled over 24,000 individuals in 23 countries and found that 64% of people think climate change is a “very serious” problem, up from 44% of those polled in 1998.
Sadly, Americans ranked below the average with 45%, a decrease from 50% in 2007. This has left the scientific and environmental community confused on the next steps towards addressing climate change in the United States. Scientists find they must, once again, expend time and resources to fight climate change skepticism rather than focus on the political solutions that are desperately needed.
(more…)
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Tags: Carbon, Climate, international polciy, politics, politics as usual, public opinion, u.s. policy
Posted in Carbon, Climate, Energy, International Policy, U.S. policy | 1 Comment »
January 12th, 2010
From Erik Wohlgemuth, our VP of Strategic Operations:
In the U.S. during the Bush administration, we saw a significant reduction in federal funding for water infrastructure and for enforcement of clean water standards. As often happens, the NGO sector mobilized to fill the void left by government, to raise awareness of worsening infrastructure and poor enforcement.
Citizen suits were filed against the most newsworthy corporate and municipal violators. Activist NGOs mobilized and joined forces with shareholders and mainstream environmental advocacy groups to mount campaigns against brand-name companies, effectively influencing perceptions of the media, consumers and regulators.
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Tags: Carbon, Climate, climate change, global water crisis, water infrastructure, water scarcity
Posted in Climate Nexus, Infrastructure, Scarcity & Supply Issues, Water, Water Quality | No comments so far »
