Obama Vows to Act on Climate Change
As reported in The New York Times, President Barack Obama devoted special attention to climate-change goals in his second Inaugural Address on Monday. From nytimes.com:
After coming to office four years ago on a pledge to heal the planet and turn back the rise of the seas, he is proceeding cautiously this time, Democrats said, intent on making sure his approach is vetted politically, economically and technologically so as not to risk missing what many environmental advocates say could be the last best chance for years to address the problem.
The centerpiece will be action by the Environmental Protection Agency to clamp down further on emissions from coal-burning power plants under regulations still being drafted — and likely to draw legal challenges.
Today, we examine relevant research in “The Messy Politics of ‘Clean Coal’: The Shaping of a Contested Term in Appalachia’s Energy Debate,” published by Jenrose Fitzgerald of the University of Kentucky in the Organization & Environment December 2012 issue:
Clean coal is a widely used and highly contested term in debates over energy policy and climate change in the United States. While the discourse of “clean coal” originated in industry and government circles, it has been debated, shaped, and contested by a wide range of players, including environmental and social justice groups. In this article, I examine how different local, regional, and national environmental and social justice groups participate in debating and defining these technologies and their implications for the energy future of the region.
Read more at oae.sagepub.com, and click here to sign up for e-alerts from the journal.
Also, don’t miss our guest contribution from expert Andrew Hoffman on the ‘how’ in the climate-change debate.
