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.”

“All global warming deniers are eventually forced to suppress scientific studies, and Palin is no different,” said Suckling. “To maintain her ludicrous opposition to protecting the polar bear in the face of massive scientific consensus, Palin stepped over the line to lie about and suppress government science.”

“Palin’s insistence that Arctic melting is ‘uncertain’ is like someone debating the theory of gravity as they plunge off a cliff,” said Suckling. “It’s hopeless, reckless, and extremely cynical.”

You can read more about the award and why the Center for Biological Diversity gave the award to Sarah Palin here.

The Guardian has even more shocking news about Sarah Palin and her fight against polar bears. They reveal that Sarah Palin got help from known climate change deniers and the oil company ExxonMobil “to back efforts to stop polar bears being protected as an endangered species.”

“In official submissions to the US government’s consultation on the status of the polar bear, Palin and her team referred to at least six scientists who have questioned either the existence of warming as a largely man-made phenomenon or its severity. One paper was partly funded by the US oil company ExxonMobil.”

Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace US, says that this “shows that she is completely out of touch with the urgency of the climate crisis.”

Tonight is Sarah Palin’s big debate night against the Democratic Vice President candidate Joe Biden. If you want to know more about the two candidates’s stances when it comes to the environment we got all you need to know: Sarah Palin’s awful environmental record and why the League of Conservation Voters Hails Joe Biden.

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:

“Unfortunately, with her support for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and off our coasts, Governor Palin will simply continue the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration and their Big Oil friends — policies that could make us even more dependent on foreign oil.

Governor Palin characterizes McCain’s flip-flop on drilling offshore as a positive step in his transformation from maverick to Big Oil’s best friend. She has implored McCain to change his position against drilling in the Arctic — something she will have plenty of opportunities to pursue as his running mate.

In addition to supporting backward-looking energy policies, Governor Palin has also opposed a crucial clean water initiative, sued the federal government for listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and opposed other important wildlife protection measures.”

The post Sarah Palin’s awful environmental record has been updated with the new information.

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.”

Already now it’s perfectly clear that Sarah Palin is inappropriate and incompetent for the Vice President position and being one heartbeat away from the presidency for one of the most powerful superpowers in the world.

You could ask yourself why John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, and if he really was sane at that moment. Faye Palin, Palin’s mother-in-law, also wonders that very same question as she said to a New York Daily News reporter that “I’m not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she’s a woman and a conservative.” But it seems not even John McCain liked the idea of Sarah Palin as the Vice President of USA.

We have earlier reported about Joe Biden, the Democrats nominee for Vice President, and his impressive green environmental record. So the question is. How green is really Sarah Palin?

Sarah Palin hates polar bears as she doesn’t want to add them to her nation’s list of endangered species, saying “listing the polar bear as threatened is the wrong way to get to the right answer.” She has also filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse that very decision.

Sarah Palin wants to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. She also wants more offshore drilling.

Sarah Palin has supported and led Alaska’s efforts to shoot down wolves from airplanes and helicopters.

Sarah Palin denies that global warming is man-made, saying “I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”

Sarah Palin is married to Todd Palin, an oil field production operator from BP. And that is something that surely will become an interest conflict between her and big oil. Sarah Palin has said that she “want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S.” And during a phone interview with the Anchorage Daily News Palin said that “I am happy to and very honored to be asked to do this. I know it’s going to be great for Alaska.”

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:

“Unfortunately, with her support for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and off our coasts, Governor Palin will simply continue the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration and their Big Oil friends — policies that could make us even more dependent on foreign oil.

Governor Palin characterizes McCain’s flip-flop on drilling offshore as a positive step in his transformation from maverick to Big Oil’s best friend. She has implored McCain to change his position against drilling in the Arctic — something she will have plenty of opportunities to pursue as his running mate.

In addition to supporting backward-looking energy policies, Governor Palin has also opposed a crucial clean water initiative, sued the federal government for listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and opposed other important wildlife protection measures.”

Sarah Palin is, like I said earlier, still very unknown and we don’t yet know all her standpoints when it comes to the environment. As the election progress continues we will probably find out more. But one thing is for sure. Her environmental record is not even half as good as Joe Biden’s.

So if you want to vote “green” and end George Bush’s last eight years of failed economic and environmental policies John McCain, Sarah Palin nor the Republican Party should be an option for you.

Updates:
- Sarah Palin Wins 2008 Rubber Dodo Award
- Sarah Palin can’t name a single man-made cause to climate change

The Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate and Vice President. But how green is really Joe Biden? Well, it seems he is green enough for the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) to applaud Barack Obama’s choice and to hail Joe Biden in regards to his environmental records.

“With a lifetime LCV environmental score of 83%, Joe Biden recognizes that ending our addiction to oil is vital to our national security,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said. “Senator Biden is a long-time leader on key energy and environmental issues, and the members of LCV enthusiastically support Senator Obama’s choice.”

ScienceSays.net lists “Biden’s awesome environmental record” saying he is just as strong on the environment as Obama and that Biden “isn’t afraid to say it”:

• Supports an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050
• Supports 40 miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency standards by 2017
• Wants the US to use 20% renewable energy by 2020
• Opposes offshore drilling or drilling for oil in the Arctic (ANWR)
• Take Big Oil’s $2 billion dollar tax breaks to pay for offshore wind farms
• Ensured protection of 100% of the coastline in his home state
• Wrote a plan to exchange debt-relief for rainforest protection
• Believes polluters should pay Superfund fees to clean up their toxic waste
• Wants the US to take a stronger stance to end commercial whaling

The League of Conservation Voters also says that Obama’s Energy Plan for America “is the most substantive, comprehensive plan ever put forward by a nominee for President,” and that Biden’s “progressive energy stance” will help to boost Obama’s “visionary plan.”

“They will usher in a new era of environmental leadership,” Gene Karpinski said.

Image credit: Barack Obama @ Flickr. Image licensed under a Creative-Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.