Obama’s Greening of America: A Look at the News
Text by Keith Rutowski
President Obama has been playing the green card for some time now—since before the campaign trail, actually. And despite a couple of questionable senatorial votes, most were willing to believe him. Now, over the past few months, Obama seems to have taken further action to silence the accusations that his tank is running on empty, green rhetoric.
In February, Obama called on Congress to pass a law that would cut carbon emissions and reduce the U.S.'s contribution to global warming. In nearly the same breath, and to assuage fears about the floundering economy, Obama outlined a vision of an America where business and the environment would not only coexist, but—dare I say—help one another, as well.
The proverbial ball started rolling shortly after the financial bailout when Obama pushed through $100 billion to be used for renewable energy development and increased home and office building efficiency. Although many still claim too little is being done to address environmental concerns, a recent series of legislative actions seem to demonstrate that Obama is just getting started. Here we’ve compiled a few sources’ takes on recent developments, along with short summaries of each.
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