Earlier this week I pointed to an article on the growing conservative rebellion against McCain's so-called moderate positions, including his proposals for climate change.

Turns out, not surprisingly, that McCain has already surrendered to the Republican base -- fair-weather maverick that he is -- and won't do anything meaningful to combat climate change if elected president.

By gutting his cap and trade proposal, McCain has revealed that when it comes to climate change, he's all no talk and no action.

Mark Matson makes a good point:

McCain is honestly clueless enough to be worried about global warming without realizing he is against every possible solution.

As McCain would say, that's not change.

A Siegel (via Stoller) reports:

According to Washington Post reporting, the coal industry is using an Astroturf organization, the Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, to wage a $35 million dollar effort to gain traction in the 2008 Presidential campaign for a more polluting future for America and the Globe....

ABEC is paying people to be at campaign events, in human billboards, and giving out leaflets at events. They have sponsored Presidential debates (here also).  They even had Santas giving out “Clean Coal” (reminder: that is ’somewhat less dirty coal’) at the Metro stations by the US Congress.

I've been encountering these ABEC folks around the web in my work to stop mountaintop removal coal mining at IloveMountains.org.

If $35 million in astroturf money isn't enough to convince you that 2008 is a defining year for coal, maybe their incredibly tactless website will:

[The ABEC website features an] array of young people, many of whom appear to be under 10 years of age, enlighten visitors about the happy, hunky-dory world of coal. Alicia sets down her book bag to explain how coal and environmentalism go hand in hand, while young Sarah tells how we have more energy in the form of coal than the Middle East has in oil. “I’m doing my homework,” she says. “You do yours too.”

You can "do your homework" by checking out the high cost of coal or discovering your power company's connection to mountaintop removal coal. If you like what you see, please join us in the fight.

$35 million is a lot of money, but not enough, perhaps, if you're on the wrong side of history.

This is just silly, and indicative of why Detroit is an empty shell of what it once was.

Rolling out the new Corvette at the Detroit auto show, chief engineer Tadge Juechter comments on the new energy bill by lamenting that "High-performance vehicles such as this may actually be legislated out of existence."

Preposterous, when, for the same amount of cash as a new Corvette, you can buy this all electric roadster, which, glad to say, is made in America.

But it's not made in Detroit.

For the past eighteen months or so, I've been working with the talented staff over at Appalachian Voices on the iLoveMountains.org campaign, using the web to raise awareness of the national tragedy that is mountaintop removal coal mining.

We've just launched a new webtool called My Connection that's worth checking out.

Ever think that mountaintop removal coal mining is just a regional issue, only effecting the people of Appalachia?

My Connection allows you to type in your ZIP code and find out if your utility sells electricity produced with coal mined from mountaintops in Appalachia.

Chances are, it does. No matter where we live, we're all connected. And that means we all have a responsibility to end mountaintop removal coal mining.

So check it out, and add your voice to the more than 23,000 Americans who have already pledged to end mountaintop removal.

Technorati Tags: global warming, energy, Google Earth, environment, conservation,

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