A Democratic video says 240 House members “voted in 2011 that climate change was a ‘hoax.’ ” Not exactly. The 2011 vote was ultimately a referendum on who should set climate change policy — the Environmental Protection Agency or Congress. It was not a vote on whether climate change is a “hoax.” Read more»

Phoenix does not generally inspire passion. Maybe it is just that we’re too new. Maybe we’re too much a generic reflection of post-war urban America. But maybe it is that life here – despite all the criticism of living in the desert – isn’t actually all that challenging. We don’t have devastating catastrophic events to pull us together, or provide a partial blank canvas to reinvent our place. Read more»

Jaime Lynn Butler isn’t old enough to vote, but that hasn’t stopped the 12-year-old from becoming a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Gov. Jan Brewer and speaking to members of the Arizona Legislature about climate change. Read more»

It comes as no surprise to those of us who live here in the Valley of the Sun that it’s hot and that it is likely to get hotter. In Phoenix, more than any other American city I know, we debate our future constantly. Maybe that’s because we fully realize that Phoenix is built in a place with geographical challenges. Read more»

A hole in the ozone layer that appears seasonally over Antarctica last year reached its second-smallest size in two decades. Read more»

The number of Americans who call themselves members of the Tea Party is down to just 8 percent, a decline that's is entirely predictable in hindsight, considering just how much nonsense one had to believe in order to take seriously the absurdities that Tea Party leaders spouted. Read more» 1

Despite congressional failure to pass essential legislation to reduce carbon pollution and establish a renewable electricity standard, during its first term the Obama administration successfully adopted policies to protect public health from air pollution, lower oil consumption, and create jobs. Read more»

Sprawled, single-family house subdivision urban Arizona is not sustainable, much less one adding a million people or doubling in size or whatever the latest boosterish nonsense is peddled. The business model of population growth won't work. Read more» 1

Right now, the federal government must do everything it can to assist people harmed by Hurricane Sandy. But it would be irresponsible to ignore the carbon pollution added to the atmosphere responsible for climate change. After Hurricane Sandy and other recent weather disasters, we cannot afford any more warnings. Read more»

President Obama and Mitt Romney have been reluctant to utter the words "global warming." Neither candidate mentioned climate change over four presidential debates and none of the moderators asked about it — the first time that's happened since 1988. Read more»

While President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, heartily disagree about the role of money in politics, campaign finance reform was never breached in any of the three presidential debates this month. Read more»

The University of Arizona's Dr. Tom Swetnam said there's a bleak future for Southwestern forests. Plus, Shelly Fishman with the Tuesday Money Maker Report, and LD9 state House candidate Victoria Steele (D), and comments on Proposition 409 from former Rio Nuevo Board member Rick Grinnell. Read more»

July was the hottest month ever in the continental U.S., and the past twelve months have been hotter than any such period on record. Half of all counties in the country have been declared disaster areas, mainly due to drought. Read more»

As evidenced by the global warming “debate,” Tea Party-style conservatives have a problem with reality. Read more»

A new study said that pollution causes thunderclouds to spread and trap more heat from high in the atmosphere, and that heat drives temperatures up in the climate worsening global warming. Read more»