Green Options

Could President Obama do an end run round the very high bar of persuading 67 Senators (only 60 of whom are Democrats) to ratify a Copenhagen agreement? The Constitutional requirement to “make Treaties” only with the “Advice and Consent” only when “two thirds of the Senators present concur, ” is a higher bar than almost any other nation has saddled itself with. Is there any alternative?

An interesting idea proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Yale 360 suggests that President Obama might be able to avoid the 67 vote problem and thus get real reductions at Copenhagen, by using a “legislative-executive” agreement; like that used to sign NAFTA and the WTO.

Of course this would be political suicide. (Although that might be a secondary consideration for this President; given the ginning-up of murderous threats upon his life by a homicidal opposition). Such an agreement would need only a 51 vote majority in both houses of Congress, instead of 67 Senate votes.

President Obama’s recent use of the Executive Order to compel Federal Agencies to get a 30% reduction by 2020 shows that he is not afraid of this kind of end-run around congress.

If you thought the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was cool in years past, wait’ll you get a look at this year’s lineup … not only the talent on stage, but the starring sustainability efforts backstage too.

The four-day camping festival, held annually in Manchester, Tennessee, since 2002 has grabbed accolades galore just for the great variety of performers it attracts (this year’s lineup includes everyone from Pearl Jam, Chris Rock, Kanye West and B.B. King to Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Willie Nelson and Janeane Garofalo). But it’s taken increasingly awesome steps each year to green the event onstage and off, and this year is no exception.