Thursday, January 22nd, 2015
Stephan: President Obama I think now is concerned with his legacy. How will history think of him? And I think his wife is also urging him in that direction. And he is determined to leave a legacy that shows the first Black president, in the person of Barrack Obama, was a success and something of an economic savior. If I am optimistic I think the Theocratic Right ultimately will be an historical curiosity like the 19th century No-Nothings. That when the emotional gestalt changes data will prevail. So I take this Executive Order as very good news. Because it is an Executive Order it is not guaranteed after January 2017, when the Presidency changes but, by then, even the dimmest bulb will be able to see climate change, and the public gestalt will have shifted.
WASHINGTON — At least 23 different federal agencies are responsible for implementing the Obama administration’s policies in the Arctic Ocean, from the Office of Science and Technology Policy to the State Department to NASA.
So President Obama signed an executive order Wednesday to better coordinate all those efforts, creating an Arctic Executive Steering Committee to eliminate overlapping areas of responsibility.
“Over the past 60 years, climate change has caused the Alaskan Arctic to warm twice as rapidly as the rest of the United States, and will continue to transform the Arctic as its consequences grow more severe,” Obama said in the executive order. That warming, he said, has resulted in widespread glacier retreat, coastal erosion, acidic oceans, earlier spring melting, insect outbreaks and wildfires.
Record! 2014 was Earth’s warmest year
The executive order comes the day after a State of the Union Address in which Obama said climate change posed the greatest threat to future generations. And while he didn’t announce any new climate initiatives, he said he was “determined to make sure that American leadership drives international action.”
In April, the United States will take over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council […]
