Environmental Politics

Earth Island Journal devotes its cover and much of the current issue (Autumn 2012) To "A Special Report on the Environmental Pollutant Called Money in Politics."

Science is at the heart of some key policy issues dividing Republicans and Democrats. Presidential candidates Obama and Romney may never square off in person on TV over scientific issues like climate. But through "Science Debate 2012," they are addressing them in writing online. Is that good enough?

"The Democratic party has restated its commitment to combat climate change and boost clean energy in the party platform it will approve on Tuesday at the 2012 party convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. But compared to its 2008 party platform, the 2012 version, called Moving America Forward, offers more restrained statements about the urgency of addressing climate change and shifts the party's energy strategy away from going "green" toward an "all-of-the-above" approach, a phrase also used in the Republican's 2012 platform."

"The Obama administration has cleared another hurdle for Shell to drill in Alaska’s Arctic waters – the second in as many days – changing the company’s air pollution limits so its drill ship can operate in the Chukchi Sea."

"CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Obama consoled victims of Hurricane Isaac along the Gulf Coast on Monday and said officials from all levels of government will do everything they can to assess the damage from the storm and figure out how to help.

"Democrats want their national convention in Charlotte, N.C., to have a big effect on the 2012 election and a small footprint on the planet."

"Over the past four years, the Republican Party has undergone a fairly dramatic shift in its approach to energy and environmental issues. Global warming has disappeared entirely from the party’s list of concerns. Clean energy has become an afterthought. Fossil fuels loom larger than ever. And one way to see this shift clearly is to compare the party’s 2008 and 2012 platforms."

"The G.O.P. platform approved Tuesday in Florida included tough language on many expected issues like abortion, but also takes a stand on an issue that has historically been out of the party’s mainstream: Agenda 21."

"When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited an Ohio coal mine this month to promote jobs in the coal industry, workers who appeared with him at the rally lost pay because their mine was shut down."