Okay, he nixed the XL Pipeline. But he also approved drilling in the arctic, but Shell then wisely abandoned its plan.
As Bernie Sanders says, global warming will impact the world supply of potable water, resulting in more hate and discontent and the inevitable wars to follow.
Now that denialist lackeys of the fossil fuel industry are fully in control of both houses of Congress, it’s up to President Obama to avoid the the impending disaster of climate disruption, and set an example for the rest of the world to follow:
If President Obama took these nine actions it would result in significant emissions reductions:
- Use the Clean Air Act to force emission reductions from states.
- Drastically cut emissions from aircraft.
- Improve regulations of methane -- a huge contributor to climate change.
- Reduce flaring from oil and gas wells.
- Stop the shipment of fracked gas overseas.
- Stop black carbon particles from melting our ice caps.
- Get climate-disrupting chemicals out of our refrigerators and air conditioners.
- Keep fossil fuels in the ground on our public lands and waters.
- Force the government to consider the climate crisis in all of its decisions.
There are no excuses for waiting because we’re running out of time. Failure to do everything possible to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions could condemn us to an unspeakable climate future.
So why hasn’t President Obama taken these actions? Maybe because Fossil Fuel Empires like Exxon Mobil are pressuring him not to. They use the profits they earn from pillaging our planet to fight even the most modest action on climate. So far, the polluters are winning, while the people who did the least to cause the climate crisis are bearing the impacts.