Photo credit: Photo Mojo

John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate, who failed to mention climate change in his acceptance speech, who picked a climate change denier as his running mate, who won’t regulate greenhouse gases, whose energy plan is mainly about offshore drilling and nuclear energy is continuing on his failed environmental and energy trail.

While campaigning in coal-rich Pennsylvania, the Washington Post reports, McCain promised he is a “coal booster” and that he would encourage the export of coal to other countries. He also claimed that coal will “create hundreds of thousands of jobs”.

“My friends, you know what Senator Obama said about a year ago, he said he had not been a, quote, coal booster,” he said, as the crowd booed. “My friends, I’ve been a coal booster and it’s going to create jobs, and we’re going to export coal to other countries and we are going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That’s going to help restore the economy of the great state of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

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Photo credit: soggydan

Joseph Romm, from the Climate Progress blog, writes on Huffington Post that John McCain won’t regulate greenhouse gas emissions if he and Sarah Palin get elected.

Romm writes that McCain does not support mandatory government control of greenhouse gases, something he supported before running for President. Romm also points out the fact that McCain picked a climate change denier as his running mate, that McCain failed to mention climate change in his acceptance speech and that McCain’s chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin recently said that “McCain does not agree with the Supreme Court decision that labels carbon dioxide a pollutant and requiring EPA to regulate it.”

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The time has come to decide who you will vote for in the 2008 U.S. election. Before I start it should be perfectly clear for everyone that reads this that I am not an American citizen and thus have no right to vote in the election. But, I do have the right to voice my opinion about the candidates and their political stances.

So, who should you vote for? Which one of the candidates is best fit to lead, Barack Obama or John McCain? For me, and the rest of the world, the choice is pretty obvious. Barack Obama should, and needs to be the next President of the United States of America.

When it comes to environmental, energy and climate issues, only Obama stands out as the strong and aggressive candidate with a detailed and comprehensive plan to tackle these problems.

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As most of the political spotlight is on the presidential election in USA you might have missed the election in Canada last week. Unfortunately not much changed there. Stephen Harper and his Conservative party remained in power, the Liberals lost 19 seats and the Greens failed to even win a seat.

The outcome of the election was a blow to the environment and anyone who wants tough actions against climate change. Mitchell Anderson, from the DeSmogBlog, said that “the Canadian election saw little talk of dealing with climate change since stock markets tanked in the final week of the campaign.”

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The former unknown Alaskan Governor who is now running mate with John McCain and, maybe, soon even Vice President of the USA has been awarded the 2008 Rubber Dodo Award.

It is the Center for Biological Diversity that this year gives their unflattering Dodo Award to Sarah Palin. Why? Because she “has sought to remove endangered species act protection for the polar bear, suppressed and lied about state global warming studies, and denied that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee.”

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The method in which America creates energy has been a hot topic during the 2008 presidential election. For most, a primary concern deals with how we can keep prices down at the pump while eliminating our need for foreign oil. This desire has lead to the “drill here, drill now” crowd calling for domestic offshore drilling (among other things). While everyone agrees that energy independent principles are vital to revving up the American economy, there are big differences in how to accomplish this task. Notably, when it comes to the energy resources and environmental protection standards, there are fundamental differences in Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s interests. Additionally, when it comes to bills in congress addressing consumer protection, manufacturing standards, and other topics not talked about enough, the future will heavily depend upon which candidate prevails. The following include a few you may not have known about, and some you may have, but they are all liable to affect the lives of everyday Americans.

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Jacob from the blog Force Change tells us that Sarah Palin supports mining in Bristol Bay, which could threaten salmon, bears, and caribou. He lists three other major anti-green policies from Sarah Palin and comes to the conclusion that her “overall position towards the environment is quite poor.”

Gristmill also has a lengthy post about Sarah Palin and her record on issues related to energy and the environment. For example they list Sarah Palin’s support to build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope and her suggestion to eliminate Alaska’s gas tax.

Gristmill also lists several quotes from Sarah Palin and from people who have reacted to her nomination. Such as this one from Gene Karpinski, the President of the League of Conservation Voters:

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Last week the Republican presidential contender John McCain announced his choice for running mate and Vice President. John McCain selected a rather unknown 44 year-old women named Sarah Palin from Alaska.

The pro-lifer Sarah Palin, a lifetime member of the NRA, was the former mayor of a town of 9,000 for nearly two years. She wants to teach creationism in schools and is “a firm believer in free market capitalism.” She is also in the centre of the “TrooperGate” scandal currently being unfolded in Alaska. During an interview with Larry Kudlow from CNBC’s “Kudlow & Co” Sarah Palin said that someone needed to explain for her “what is it exactly that the VP does every day?” According to Cindy McCain, “Palin has national security experience because Alaska is close to Russia.”

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The Republican presidential contender John McCain yesterday tried to make fun of Barack Obama at a biker rally with his hard-core voters saying Obama’s new energy plan was all about inflating your tires. At the biker rally John McCain said that “my opponent doesn’t want to drill. He doesn’t want nuclear power. He wants you to inflate your tires.” Later in an interview he said that “we are not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires.”

Besides the fact that John McCain is not telling the truth about what Obama said he is also completely wrong about the effectiveness of proper tire inflation.

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The Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has released his “New Energy for America” plan. If elected some of the things in his plan are 10% renewables by 2012, one million plug-ins by 2015 and energy efficiency now.

John McCain’s energy plan in comparison is, let’s say, a bit weaker. He is all about nuclear energy, a $300 million battery prize, nothing on energy efficiency and an opposition to clean renewable energy.

Here are some of the energy plans Barack Obama has for America:

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