For years, TransCanada has been selling the Keystone XL pipeline to Americans with all of the enthusiasm of a used car salesman - and using all of the same tricks. However, one myth is more egregious than all the rest: this pipeline will enhance America's energy independence.Collection: Independence
Our message to leaders from every continent was simple: California has succeeded on climate and clean energy because we've emphasized local, human values and built a coalition that includes community and environmental leaders, working families, and communities of color - as well as unions and progressive business.Collection: Environmental
The most sacred duty of the President of the United States of America is to defend and protect the Constitution and the principles it enshrines: freedom, fairness, and equality.Collection: Equality
Tragically, no industry has done more to block crucial action to address climate change than the oil industry.
Investing in more fossil fuel infrastructure will not strengthen our economy over the long-term, since the market is clearly indicating that clean energy sources are the future.
When Republicans say they want to run government 'like a business,' they apparently mean 'run government like a Trump casino headed straight for bankruptcy court.'
As a Californian, I feel lucky to live in what is truly the Golden State - a place of sunshine, agricultural bounty, natural beauty, technological innovation, and boundless optimism.
I think I was on this very straightforward escalator - grammar school, high school, college, get a job on Wall Street, kind of everything leads to the next thing. But at what point do you get to step back and say, 'I'd like to take a broader view of my time on this planet?'
Since the Reagan era, Republicans have prescribed cuts for rich people and corporations as a cure-all. But every time they put their theory into practice, the rich just get richer, and everyone else gets left behind.
The more we allow Republicans to concentrate the lion's share of wealth in the hands of a few, the more power these wealthy few will have. And they will use this power to continue rewriting the rules of both our economy and our political system in their favor.
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to 'fix the rigged system.' By 'fix,' he apparently meant rigging it to permanently benefit billionaires like himself.
Trump has become the star of our 24-hour political news cycle, and every pundit in America seems to be grabbing for some of the reflected light from his explosive campaign.
We eliminated the monarchy. We put limits on how long one person could lead our country and on the powers they held while in office. We took differences of opinion seriously - in fact, we built them into the fabric of our government.
Clean energy is the ultimate growth strategy for our economy - one that would add millions more good-paying jobs right here in the United States.
In American politics, the deepest rivalry is between the rational world and the right wing of the GOP, who are increasingly marginalized in their view that America cannot take on the big challenges.
Californians like to spend a lot of time talking about how great our state is, but the truth is that we have learned and executed a very important lesson: if we want to win on issues as critical as climate change - if we want to lead - we absolutely have to stand together.
Faced with global challenges, politicians like Donald Trump have played on the fears and concerns of the American people with divisive, hateful rhetoric and proposals.
America faces very real challenges. The climate crisis, inequality, stagnant wages, student debt - the list goes on. Rather than address these serious problems, Trump uses hate-filled rhetoric to divide America by race, religion, and ancestry.
Trump manipulates the fearful by promising that he will use his fraudulent deal-making prowess to protect and take care of his supporters.
Trump's vitriol attracts large crowds and may even win him the Republican presidential nomination but dishonors our best traditions. It spits in the face of every protection and opportunity our Constitution promises.
To say Donald Trump would be a disaster for our country, our democracy, and our future would be doing a grave disservice to the word 'disaster.'
With many serious challenges facing our country - pressing issues like climate change, income inequality, and education - Trump has expressed neither the inclination nor the ability to take on these problems.
Donald Trump's crass charms are apparently very limited - historically so, if polling is any indication.
Donald Trump may be unusually flamboyant, but his views are all too representative of the party that is about to nominate him for president.
My mother, Marnie Fahr Steyer, was a lifelong smoker - up to three packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day. I like to think that, if Mom were still with us today, she'd be happy with the strides we've made to protect our children from the ongoing health crisis of tobacco addiction.
If he truly thinks he can be president, Donald Trump needs to understand that we need real solutions - not more walls and giveaways to polluting special interests.
Trump's one consistent position is that he will stop at nothing to protect his properties and his profits.
I think Donald knows climate change is a serious threat - but he only cares about protecting his luxury coastal properties, not the rest of America. Observing his actions as they relate to his business interests offers the best insight into the man behind the bluster.
Violence never solves problems. It may cover them up temporarily because of the fear it is intended to inspire, but it is part of a cycle, not the end of a cycle.
Climate change is a global crisis - one the international community and private sector must tackle together if we have any hope of averting the worst impacts on our health, our economies, and our communities.
On climate and clean energy, government sets the international framework, and the private sector uses that framework to do what it does best: innovate, create, and drive global progress.
As a businessman, Trump preyed on the hopes and anxieties of struggling middle-class families. He cheated and scammed employees and customers alike. He left behind a trail of bankrupted companies. Past is prologue, and Trump has continued to pursue his own aggrandizement ruthlessly and relentlessly as a candidate and as president-elect.
Though much about Donald Trump is chaotic and unpredictable, his overall agenda as a businessman and politician is clear and consistent: He wants to make himself more powerful, and he doesn't care how he does it.
The tech-driven economy leads to a two-tier job market where workers are either critical or 'commodity.' This divisive 'winner-take-all' mentality hurts most Americans and worsens economic inequality.
American democracy depends on the public's ability to remain accurately informed on our state of affairs.
The truth is that transitioning to clean energy like wind and solar will create millions of new, good jobs that can't be outsourced, and spur economic growth - all while avoiding the inevitable, significant damages our economy will suffer should we keep building more pipelines.
Climate change carries implications that stretch far beyond extreme weather, however. The effects on public health are far more alarming - and those have to be taken into account in order to calculate an accurate estimate of the costs of inaction.
We believe the way social change occurs in the United States, over the last 200 years, is the democratic process.