If a tree falls in the forest (because of global warming), but the media doesn’t report on it, does it make a sound?

That is the question posed by the amazing banner graphic in today’s Washington Post:

In its quantification of the key elements of the speech, the paper’s editors apparently couldn’t see or hear or speak of the nearly 10% of the State of the Union address devoted to climate and energy. But, hey, Obama devoted 3% of the speech to immigration — that’s news!

Coincidentally, former VP Gore had this to say about the major media in a book tour event yesterday covered by ClimateWire (subs. req’d):

“The American networks, they won’t cover it,” he said. “It changed a little bit after Superstorm Sandy, but not much. It’s almost like a family with an alcoholic father who flies into a rage at the mention of alcohol or his problems, and so everybody in the family learns to keep quiet, don’t mention the elephant in the room, let’s just don’t ever say it.”

… “We had disasters related to the climate one after the other, $110 billion worth of climate-related disaster damage last year, completely blowing away the previous record, half the North Polar ice cap melted last summer, and Superstorm Sandy devastated Manhattan and New Jersey, and all the while, we had a presidential campaign with more debates than ever in history,” he said, his voice rising. “And not one single reporter asked a single question in any of the debates of any of the candidates about the climate crisis. That is pathetic.”

‘Pathetic’ is the word.

Related Posts:

• Silence Of The Lambs 3: Media Coverage Of Climate Mixed In 2012, But Still Down Sharply From 2009

By Bill Becker

Barack Obama is very likely the last American president who can keep us from plunging helplessly off the climate cliff. Judging by his Inaugural and State of the Union speeches, he gets that.

It has been a long time coming.

Lyndon Johnson was the first president on record to be warned that unless our energy policies changed, climate change would become apparent, and perhaps irreversible, by the turn of the century. In 1965, Johnson’s panel of science advisors told him:

By the year 2000 there will be about 25 percent more CO2 in the atmosphere than at present. This will modify the heat balance of the atmosphere to such an extent that marked changes in climate, not controllable through local or even national efforts, could occur.

Now, 48 years and eight presidents later, climate disruption is accelerating more quickly than most scientists predicted. U.S. energy policy is still dominated by denial, by the political influence of fossil energy industries, and by Congress’s negligent disregard for climate science. The growing consensus now is that the world is locked in to global temperature increases well above the 2 degrees Centigrade that scientists say would give us an even chance of avoiding the worst impacts of global warming.

In 2009, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warned that global greenhouse gas emissions must begin to decline by 2015 if we are to keep climate disruption from spinning beyond control.

“It is not enough to set any aspirational goal for 2050,” he said. “It is critically important that we bring about a commitment to reduce emissions effectively by 2020.”

That threshold year — 2015 — is happening on Obama’s watch.

President Obama can’t reverse the world’s race toward the climate cliff single-handedly, of course. It would be both unrealistic and unfair to expect him to become the world’s environmental superhero.

But he has reignited hopes that the United States, the source of most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today, and still the world’s second-largest source of those emissions, will make the effort. American leadership has been a missing catalyst for a serious global climate commitment.

In his State of the Union address, Obama said that if Congress doesn’t act, he will. The President‘s powers are not insignificant. But most of the actions Obama can take unilaterally are perishable. Executive orders and presidential proclamations can be undone by the next President or by Congress.

That’s why America’s diverse “stakeholders” in a more stable climate — from farmers to homebuilders, from coastal communities to the evolving dustbowl in the heartland, and from sports fishermen to the workers who assemble wind turbines and solar panels — must have Obama’s back.

Obama has said he’ll do his job. Ours is to create such strong grassroots political support for climate action that no future President would dare undo what we hope Obama will accomplish.

– William Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. The information, opinions and unattributed quotations in this blog are derived from “The Boundaries of Executive Authority”, a two-volume analysis of presidential powers by the Center for Energy and Environmental Security at the University of Colorado School of Law. See its analysis here and here.

President Says Warming-Driven Extreme Weather Demands We “Act Before It’s Too Late,” While GOP’s Rubio Pushes Climate Denial, Attacks Solyndra!

Below are Obama’s extensive remarks on energy and climate in his State of the Union address. The President has expanded on his strong remarks in his Second Inaugural, asserting “if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will.”

Below the jump is the energy portion of his just-released “Plan for A Strong Middle Class & A Strong America.”  There’s a call for doubling renewable electricity (yet again!) by 2020 — and for doubling energy productivity by 2030 (“a new Energy Efficiency Race to the Top for states”). But who knew he’d call for Congress to pass cap-and-trade?

Here is the key part of the speech (as delivered):

Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. And today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy.

After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar – with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before – and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.

But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods – all are now more frequent and more intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science – and act before it’s too late.

Now the good news is, we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.

Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. We’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year – let’s drive costs down even further. As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.

In the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. That’s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That’s got to be a part of an all-of-the-above plan. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and water.

In fact, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good. If a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long. I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make that happen.

Wow! Looks like I’ll be needing a stomach pump — after drinking all this beer, Hurricanes, Damn-The-Weather cocktails, espressos, energy drinks, and, I’m afraid, fracking fluid from Haliburton.

His remarks on climate are very strong. So is his plan for action. Yes, both are four years late, but still….

UPDATE: Carol M. Browner, CAP Distinguished Senior Fellow and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said:

“Tonight’s speech is a big win for those who want action on climate change and believe now is the time to act.  The president was clear about the magnitude of the challenge and resolute in his determination to use his executive authority to take action, especially if Congress won’t.  He pledged to build on the achievements of his first term, including historic standards for clean cars and energy efficiency, and he laid down a strong marker that he intends to continue investments in clean energy technology as part of our economic recovery.”

Comparing the texts with the actual speech, Obama ad-libbed “That’s got to be a part of an all-of-the-above plan.” Sad. “All of the above” is not a plan. It is more of the same — literally.

UPDATE2: In the GOP response, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) goes full climate denier, anti-clean energy:

When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass, our government can’t control the weather – he accuses us of wanting dirty water and dirty air….

Instead of wasting more taxpayer money on so-called “clean energy” companies like Solyndra, let’s open up more federal lands for safe and responsible exploration.

Rubio is the GOP’s savior? This is Stone Age stuff.

Here is the energy portion of “The President’s Plan for A Strong Middle Class & A Strong America”:

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UPDATE: Obama’s extensive remarks on energy and climate — and his new plan for action — is here.

First the bad news, via a tweet from CNN White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar:

Pres. Obama will NOT announce regs on carbon emissions for existing power plants in the SOTU, per sr. admin official.

The good news is I have a brand new drinking game. And the “ugly” news is below the jump: All the climate mentions from State of the Union addresses (SOTUs) and joint Congressional addresses from 1992 through 2012, showing that talk has been cheap for a long, long time….

I needed a new drinking game after that whole Second Inaugural business, which led to a full week in Las Vegas with Charlie Sheen and Chelsea Handler (and then a month in rehab with Lindsay Lohan). So here it is:

1. Each time the President uses the phrase “climate change” or “global warming,” down one beer.
2. Each extreme weather event the President links to climate change, down a Hurricane or a Damn-The-Weather Cocktail
3. Every time Obama talks up domestic oil production, drink an espresso.
4. If Obama mentions clean coal, drink a cup of coffee.
5. If Obama pushes his “all of the above” energy strategy, down an energy drink.
6. Finally, the Gov. John Hickenlooper special: Every time Obama talks up domestic natural gas production, drink “a glass of fracking fluid produced by oilfield services giant Halliburton.”

And don’t worry about the fracking fluid, since the company asserts it is made entirely “of ingredients sourced from the food industry” — and who has more credibility than a firm once run by Dick Cheney or one that “intentionally destroyed evidence” of its culpability in the Gulf Oil disaster? (As an aside, there is plenty of stuff “sourced from the food industry” that no one should drink.)

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