Is this the beginning of the leadership push on climate change we have all been waiting for? This video is pleasant to hear (in the sense that Obama still has this on his mind, at least) but it has all the impact and taste of a low-cal snack.  If only he’d get on TV and say this to the general public, instead of the wonks that watch his Saturday addresses online.

This part sounds especially good:

It was essential – for our economy, our security, and our planet – that we finally tackle this challenge.  That is why, since we took office, my administration has made an historic commitment to promote clean energy technology.  This will mean hundreds of thousands of new American jobs by 2012.  Jobs for contractors to install energy-saving windows and insulation.  Jobs for factory workers to build high-tech vehicle batteries, electric cars, and hybrid trucks.  Jobs for engineers and construction crews to create wind farms and solar plants that are going to double the renewable energy we can generate in this country.  These are jobs building the future.

It’s hard to imagine why the Republicans would fight against progress like this, but they are.  Maybe they are just against the future.  (for all of us).  Meanwhile, we are still waiting for Obama to do something game-changing about climate change instead of mostly just talking about rebuilding our car-based infrastructure.  His approach to this serious issue so far seems to be incremental, moving with baby steps.  We don’t have time for a slow-mo solution to all these things — peak oil, coal pollution, CO2 emissions, global warming and increasingly violent weather patterns.   There are indications that Obama is beginning to take this more seriously though.  The White House is reportedly close to announcing new mileage standards of 62 mpg by 2025, according to Bloomberg.

Brightsource, the company he references can be found here. Obama is right about the Republican party though. They are still the party of no and they want to burn every last bit of coal in the earth.  Doing that will be the end of human life on this planet.  Maybe that’s why they’re looking so hard for other inhabitable planets. Why would Republicans want to scrap all renewable energy projects? Because they can’t see the future past the end of the day, and they don’t really care if people in the U.S. are employed or not. They also don’t want companies like BP, Exxon and Shell to suffer.

At this rate of two steps forward, 3 steps back, parts of the United States will be uninhabitable in a few decades.  This is from Climate Progress:

This graphic shows what Arizona will look like if the Tea-Party-led Republican Party has its way.  It’s from a terrific March presentation, Climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe has a figure of what staying on the business as usual emissions path (A1F1 or 1000 ppm) would mean (derived from the NOAA-led report):

Close-up:

Arizona — not a place [...]