VIDEO: Is it Obama? Is it Gore? No! It's the Green Ninja!

A group of researchers and educators based at San Jose State University think climate science needs a superhero. So they created one.

President Obama's high-profile statements about climate change in his inauguration speech-"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms"-will need to be backed by strong action if there's any hope of dimming recent attacks on science in America's classrooms.

The National Center for Science Education lists four new bills in the last week alone that have been introduced in state legislatures: two in Oklahoma, and one each for Missouri and Colorado. For example, House Bill 179, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 16, labels as controversial the teaching of "biological and chemical evolution;" Ditto for Colorado, which on the same day introduced House Bill 13-1089 (PDF) which also misrepresents global warming and evolution as questionable science.

No wonder Dr Eugene Cordero thinks climate change needs a superhero. Bam! Enter the Green Ninja, the not-very-talkative martial arts master who whips up all sorts mayhem to teach young minds about carbon footprints, energy-saving strategies and gas guzzling leaf blowers, a kind of climate-bent Captain Planet, for a younger generation.

Cordero-both the creator of Green Ninja and a climate scientist at San Jose State University-has already created a series of videos and lesson plans for teachers. And they are now looking to the crowd on the popular funding website Kickstarter for more cash to produce a 16-episode YouTube series, starting this Spring. At the time of writing, with just 10 days to go, the Green Ninja team has raised half of its stated $10,000 goal.

http://climatedesk.org/2013/01/video-is-it-obama-is-it-gore-no-its-the

Climate Change Inaction the Fault of Environmental Groups, Report Says

Academic paper largely clears President Obama of blame over failure to pass climate legislation through Congress.

Barack Obama/Flickr

A Harvard academic has put the blame squarely for America's failure to act on climate change on environmental groups. She also argues that there is little prospect Barack Obama will put climate change on the top of his agenda in his second term.

In a research paper, due to be presented at a Harvard forum next month, scholar Theda Skocpol in effect accuses the DC-based environmental groups of political malpractice, saying they were blind to extreme Republican opposition to their efforts.

Environmental groups overlooked growing opposition to environmental protections among conservatives voters and, underestimated the rising force of the Tea Party, believing - wrongly, as it turned out - they could still somehow win over Republican members of Congress through "insider grand bargaining".

To keep reading, click here.

http://climatedesk.org/2013/01/climate-change-inaction-the-fault-of-en