The future of our planet's environment -- and, thus, our species -- is facing something of a tipping point as we look forward to the start of the new year in just a few days. Let's pause and look at a few hopeful signs at the end of 2014. In New York, we've seen Gov. Andrew Cuomo listen to his voters -- with an assist, perhaps, from low oil prices -- and make his state the first in the nation with large energy reserves to ban fracking. That has provided hope and encouragement to anti-fracking activists in other states. At the same time, President Obama and even Pope Francis have vowed that 2015 will finally be the year that the world turns a corner to reduce climate change. Even in my home state of Louisiana, one of the most oil-friendly destinations around, I've watched environmentalism gain a very tentative toehold. In the town of Mandeville across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, citizens have been battling a company's plan to frack for oil and gas through the highly sensitive aquifer that provides water for much of southern Louisiana. They didn't win -- state regulators in the Jindal administration issued a key approval when most ...
↧