A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
Love, Death + Robots may not be favored to win Outstanding Animated Program, but it already has four Emmy Awards, two each for two episodes. "400 Boys" won two Emmys, Daryl Graham for Character Animation and Robert Valley for Character Design. "How Zeke Got Religion" also won two Emmys, Gigi Cavenago for Production Design and Edgar Martins for Storyboard. Congratulations!
Arcane is likely to win Outstanding Animated Program and already has two Emmy Awards. Bruno Couchinho won Background Design for "The Dirt Under Your Nails" and Faustine Dumontier won Color for "The Message Hidden within the Pattern." Congratulations!
Octopus! is unlikely to win Outstanding Narrator, but Minkyung Chung, Michaela Olsen, Hayley Morris, Julie Gratz, Anthony Galante, and Sabrina Chaney won Outstanding Motion Design for the documentary. Congratulations!
Follow over the jump for updated Gold Derby odds in animation, voiceover, and narration.
Slight change of plans — I am resuming my EmmyAwards coverage but I'm not blogging about the nominees for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. That's for tomorrow, I promise. Instead, I'm blogging about the nominated nature documentaries, which compose most of the nominees for Outstanding Narrator.
Sir David Attenborough – Planet Earth: Asia: "The Frozen North" (BBC America)
Idris Elba – Erased: WW2's Heroes Of Color: "D-Day" (National Geographic)
Tom Hanks – The Americas: "Andes" (NBC)
Barack Obama – Our Oceans: "Indian Ocean" (Netflix)
Phoebe Waller Bridge – Octopus!: "Part 1" (Prime Video)
The two most nominated series are Planet Earth: Asia and The Americas with two nominations each, one in this category and another for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score). Erased: WW2's Heroes Of Color, Octopus!, and Our Oceans have just this nomination for their narrators. If this were a program category, those numbers might mean something. Instead, this is a performer category, so I defer to Gold Derby, where every expert, 60% of the editors, and 68.4% of the users have picked Sir David Attenborough to win this award again. Former President Barack Obama is the choice of 40% of the editors and 21.4% of the users. Only 5.1% of the users think Tom Hanks has a chance, followed by 2.7% of the users for Idris Elba and 2.4% of the users for Phoebe Waller Bridge. That's certainly an all-star field of nominated narrators!
Besides blogging about science and the environment, one of my other justifications for my awards show coverage is examining the diversity of the performers nominated. Theblkscript on Instagram made that easy for me by creating the following image to celebrate just that. Thank you!
If you think you have seen the best the natural world has to offer, think again! Join Sir David Attenborough as he takes you across our planet’s largest continent.
I could have waited until International Tiger Day to share this, but it works better for me today.
The world will never be the same once you've seen it from below.
Dive into Our Oceans, a thrilling five-episode series, narrated by Barack Obama, that invites you to join Emmy winning wildlife filmmaker James Honeyborne on an awe-inspiring adventure. This groundbreaking show will whisk you away on a global journey, uncovering the mesmerizing stories of our planet's five majestic oceans. Each episode delves into the unique characters of the creatures within these ecosystems, from playful and cunning to resilient and mysterious. Ride along the world's great current as we reveal nature's most spectacular aquatic personalities and breathtaking wonders.
Netflix certainly knows how to put together a trailer!
From Idris Elba, whose grandfather fought in WW2, this landmark series reveals the untold stories of soldiers of color in the war. By mixing war sequences with character portraits, this series restores the role of these soldiers and their units to their rightful place in the narrative of WW2 and reveals how these heroes inspired Civil Rights Movements in America and across the world.
I may not be able to recommend this to my students for extra credit, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a worthwhile subject.
This trailer lacks a video description I find worth sharing (it's all advertising for Prime Video), but it has 12,499,221 views. Wow! I think I will see this and maybe The Americas at another awards show, whether it's the EMA Awards, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, or even next year's News & Doc Emmy Awards. Either way, this and the other nature documentary nominees look like good recommendations for my environmental science and biology students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.
Follow over the jump for the other nomination Planet Earth: Asia and The Americas earned plus the winner of Outstanding Nature Documentary at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.
Jon Stewart closes out the last night of the DNC live from Chicago with a recap of the convention, including Kamala Harris's spotlight moment, Oprah's cat lady cam, and a roster of speakers as diverse and contradictory as the Democratic party itself. Jon also shows Dems what real joy looks like and tries to make sense of Fox News's convention coverage.
Stephen Colbert brings a remarkable week of LIVE episodes to a close with one more monologue from the incredible Auditorium Theatre in Chicago following VP Kamala Harris's historic speech at night four of the Democratic National Convention.
Now, that's an update!
Listening to the audiences, I think both Stewart and Colbert will miss the Chicago crowds, even if Stewart tried to pick a fight with his over pizza. I could have told him that was a bad idea. My wife grew up in Chicago and she takes her local cuisine very seriously. Also, Chicagoans really don't care what New Yorkers think and especially aren't going to listen to attacks on their food.
Obama won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator last year, so when he's defending it now that he's been nominated again for this category. Like last year, he's contending against stiff competition in Mahershala Ali for "Chimp Empire," Angela Bassett for "Good Night Oppy," Morgan Freeman for "Our Universe," and Pedro Pascal for "Patagonia"...
That written, the experts at Gold Derby currently have Obama as the favorite, followed by Bassett, Freeman, Ali, and Pascal. That's about the order I see and the order in which I'd root for the nominees. Besides, who am I to argue against the experts?
I found this surprisingly well-written and the only sign that an actual human likely didn't narrate it was the pause after the D in "Dwight D. Eisenhower." A person would have realized that was not the end of a sentence, while the program read it as such.
Follow over the jump for the other diverse winners in front of the camera and microphone.
That written, the experts at Gold Derby currently have Obama as the favorite, followed by Bassett, Freeman, Ali, and Pascal. That's about the order I see and the order in which I'd root for the nominees. Besides, who am I to argue against the experts?
Seth takes a closer look at Republican candidates who are in very close races and could easily win in the midterms, including the pro-Trump election deniers who have outright declared they will use their power to steal future elections.
Register to vote, check your registration status, get election info, volunteer to see free shows at https://www.headcount.org or text VOTE to 57568. It takes less than 2 minutes to get ready to vote and make your voice heard in an upcoming election.
Watching this reminded me that 'SNL' on the midterm election and Twitter opened with a sketch about which candidates the Democrats would nominate if they were like the Republican nominees running this year. It was a clown show worthy of "Idiocracy." Speaking of movie comedies, my reaction to Kari Lake saying that people who accepted the 2020 election results were the true conspiracy theorists was "'I know you are but what am I?' was a lot funnier when Pee-wee Herman said it."
Cecily Strong talks about seeing bears when she was in Canada for Schmigadoon!, going snorkeling in the Mediterranean Sea and her impression of Kari Lake on Saturday Night Live.
As I wrote about Strong's impression of Lake in 'SNL' shares scary news for Halloween 2022, "she nails another politician. She also nails Arizona, 'the Florida of the West.'" Also, I'm glad to hear that she finished production on the Emmy-winning and Saturn-nominated "Schmigadoon!" My wife and I enjoyed the first season and are looking forward to the next, which will be another chance to display her song and dance skills.
Former President Obama's stiffest competition is undoubtedly Sir David Attenborough, who has six Emmy Awards to his name, three Creative Arts Emmys for Outstanding Narrator in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and three News and Documentary Emmy Awards, two for Outstanding Nature Programming and one for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing. Ironically, Obama's first Emmy nomination was for "David Attenborough Meets President Obama" at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, so the two have a history. These are Lupita Nyong'o and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's second nominations for Outstanding Narrator at the Emmys, but both lost to Sir David in 2020. While it's his first nomination for Outstanding Narrator, W. Kamau Bell has won three Creative Arts Emmy Awards for "United Shades of America." Bell also earned a nomination in Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program for "We Need to Talk About Cosby" as well. That series has a total of four Emmy nominations, which I will write about later. I suspect I'll have the same reaction to it as I did to "Allen v. Farrow" — shocked, saddened, and disgusted.
"Our Great National Parks" has a second Emmy nomination, Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program, as this image from a tweet by Higher Ground Media shows.
Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program The Andy Warhol Diaries: "Collab: Andy & Basquiat" – Wolfgang Held (Netflix) McCartney 3,2,1: "These Things Bring You Together" – Stuart Winecoff (Hulu) 100 Foot Wave: "Chapter IV: Dancing with God" – Mike Prickett, Laurent Pujol (HBO / HBO Max) Our Great National Parks: "Chilean Patagonia" – Christiaan Muñoz-Salas, Ignacio Walker (Netflix) Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy: "Venice" – Andrew Muggleton (CNN) We Feed People – Kris Kaczor (Disney+)
All of these nominees have nominations in other categories. "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy" has the most nominations with five, including Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program. "The Andy Warhol Diaries" has four, Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, and Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program in addition to this category. "McCartney 3,2,1" earned three nominations, including Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera) and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program. Both "100 Foot Wave" and "We Feed People" have two, Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for the former and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for the latter. I will be looking at all of these in upcoming posts, after which I might venture a guess as to the winner.
An epic five-part series narrated by President Barack Obama that invites viewers to celebrate and discover the power of our planet’s greatest national parks and wild spaces.
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From the executive producer of Blue Planet II comes OUR GREAT NATIONAL PARKS, a breathtaking five-part series executive produced and narrated by President Barack Obama - who protected more public lands and waters than any other U.S. President in history - that invites viewers to experience nature in the world's most iconic national parks. Spanning five continents, the series brims with wonder, humor, and optimism as each episode tells the story of a national park through the lives of its wildest residents — both big and exceptionally small — and explores our changing relationship with wilderness. Traveling from the waters of Monterey Bay, California, to the bright red soil of Kenya’s Tsavo National Park, the lush rainforests of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, the majestic terrain of Chilean Patagonia, and more, OUR GREAT NATIONAL PARKS beckons us to get out and explore, create new ways for these wild places to thrive, and vigorously preserve them for future generations to come. This series is a Wild Space production in association with Higher Ground Productions and Freeborne Media
Wow, that is both beautifully shot and wonderfully narrated. Obama does have a good shot against Sir David!
Narrated by President Barack Obama, "Our Great National Parks" is a breathtaking Netflix original five-part documentary...
"Our Great National Parks" is a breathtaking Netflix original docuseries, executive produced and narrated by President Barack Obama, who protected more public lands and waters than any other US president in history. President Obama takes us on a journey to experience nature in the world's most iconic national parks, spanning five continents. The series brims with wonder, humour and optimism as each episode tells the story of a national park through the lives of its wildest residents, both big and exceptionally small.
The series explores our changing relationship with wilderness traveling from the waters of Monterey Bay, California to the bright red soil of Kenya's Tsavo National Park, the lush rainforests of Indonesia's Gunung Leuser National Park, the majestic terrain of Chilean Patagonia and more.
Our Great National Parks beckons us to get out and explore, create new ways for these wild places to thrive, and vigorously preserve them for future generations to come.
Acclaimed filmmakers James Honeyborne and Sophie Todd are the executive producer and series producer behind this five-part documentary. They share their experiences making this series and what it was like working with President Barack Obama.
"Not all human ideas are bad. National parks were a human idea. We did that, so we can be a force for good as much as a force for bad." - Sophie Todd
I like that final quote. I might just use it.
I conclude with a complaint of sorts. These are all the nominated nature series at this year's Emmy Awards. Nature series dominated the nonfiction series Emmy nominations only a few years ago. Now, "Our Great National Parks" leads the genre with two nominations and "Serengeti II" and "The Mating Game" have just one each. That's it. "14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible" and "100 Foot Wave" both take place in nature and have great scenery shots, but both of them are sports shows at their core. Unstructured reality shows have more about the human struggle against nature, with "Deadliest Catch" and "Live Below Zero" earning two Emmy nominations each, both for Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program, where they are competing against "Survivor," and Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program, for a total of five. I'll write about them after I examine the rest of the documentary and nonfiction special and series nominees. Stay tuned.
The new national holiday marks the day the last enslaved African-Americans were freed in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
On the one hand, yay, a new national holiday. On the other, I can see why this might end up being a victory for symbolism over substance. Just the same, symbols matter and can inspire people to work on the substantive issues. Watch and listen to NAACP president discusses historic Juneteenth holiday to hear about those issues.
Derrick Johnson explains the importance of the day for communities of color across the U.S becoming a federal holiday.
In a new “Soul of a Nation” special on ABC News, Obama sat down with “GMA’s” Michael Strahan ahead of Juneteenth to talk about its significance while looking toward the future.
I agree with both Obama and Derrick Johnson that lots of work needs to be done about racism, voting rights, and policing. May the activism for those be as successful as the activism to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Meet the ‘grandmother of Juneteenth’ to see the face of that activism.
Civil rights activist Opal Lee started a petition to make Juneteenth a national holiday and “walked thousands of miles” around Texas to promote her cause.
Congratulations to Opal Lee on her success and being an inspiration!
Event planner and founder of “While Entertaining,” a magazine that highlights Black culinary creatives, Amber Mayfield gives us her insight on a Juneteenth-inspired meal.
Amber Mayfield ending her presentation with red velvet cake leads directly to the drink to celebrate today's other day, World Martini Day, Tipsy Bartender's Red Velvet Cake Martini.
For red velvet cake lovers everywhere!
That looks fun and delicious, even if I can't indulge because of my diabetes.
From the Academy Award-winning producer of FREE SOLO and based on the #1 NY Times Best-Seller by Pete Souza, Chief White House Photographer for Barack Obama, @The Way I See It is in theaters September 18th.
Based on the New York Times #1 bestseller comes The Way I See It, an unprecedented look behind the scenes of two of the most iconic Presidents in American History, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, as seen through the eyes of renowned photographer Pete Souza. As Official White House Photographer, Souza was an eyewitness to the unique and tremendous responsibilities of being the most powerful person on Earth. The movie reveals how Souza transforms from a respected photojournalist to a searing commentator on the issues we face as a country and a people.
People often say "I wish I were a fly on the wall" when something happened behind closed doors. Pete Souza was that fly on the wall during both the Reagan and Obama administrations, so he knew and he has a valuable perspective that I'm glad this documentary shared.
Winner of the 5th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Score: Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts and Buck Sanders, THE WAY I SEE IT.
Congratulations to Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts and Buck Sanders for winning Best Score and to Pete Souza for being honored with Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary. Also, congratulations to director Dawn Porter and her producers, including Evan Hayes, the producer of "Free Solo," and Laura Dern, on earning one of the nominations for Best Political Documentary. I expect they will see more nominations, particularly at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, as this was shown in MSNBC last month and is streaming on Peacock in addition to being shown in theaters. Good luck, you deserve it!
After last year's 'Green Book,' 'If Beale Street Could Talk,' and more celebration of diversity in awards show winners for MLK Day 2019 to say nothing of the wins for diversity among documentaries, superhero movies, and mainstream dramas and comedies, this year's crop of Oscar nominees looks disappointing in comparison for diversity and representation. Still, it isn't a complete bust for actors and directors of color, as Cynthia Erivo has two nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song), both for "Harriet," and Bong Joon Ho is nominated for Best Director for "Parasite," which has five more nominations, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Production Design, and Best International Feature Film. Other than Best International Feature Film, all of those awards go to individuals; Best International Feature Film goes to the country, in this case South Korea. Unfortunately, I think Renne Zellwinger will win Best Actress, either Elton John and Bernie Taupin or Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez will win Best Original Song, and "Parasite" will win only Best International Feature Film. Oh, well, at least the Lopezes winning for "Frozen II" would still be a victory for diversity in individual winners, even if they already have an Oscar for the original "Frozen."
Neon’s “Parasite” won best motion picture cast at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, becoming the first foreign language film to pick up the top prize. Director Bong Joon Ho and the cast answer questions backstage after their historic win.
Note that the first question was about diversity and another was about opening the U.S. to Asian films and actors. Also, this victory sets up a different contest than the one I was anticipating in '1917' among movie and TV winners about politics and government from Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards. I was expecting a fight between "1917" and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Now "Parasite" is among the front-runners as well. Maybe Hollywood won't vote for "a good film or show about itself." That would be as welcome a surprise as "Moonlight" beating "La La Land."
Farther down the nomination list, the documentary and short subject nominees are a treasure trove of diversity. Follow over the jump for their stories.
I have one more Emmy winner to post that features a President, one that covered a town hall with then President Obama. I have that planned for Monday. Stay tuned.
President Barack Obama has a national conversation with the people of the United States on race relations, justice, policing and equality by the members of the community. ESPN's Jemele Hill will join David Muir as the host of this ABC News special.
This show demonstrates some of the many reasons I miss Barack Obama as President. His calmness, reasonableness, and compassion helped to manage the conversation in order to bridge the two sides. That's not happening now. America badly needs to examine the intersection of racism and what I grew up calling police brutality (back then, that referred as much or more to beatings and other forms of "unnecessary roughness" than police shooting and killing suspects, but that was before the militarization of police). Unfortunately, the election of Trump has derailed the conversation. Hillary Clinton might have been better able to manage it, but she will never have the chance. Americans will have to wait, most likely until the next decade, for someone else at the highest levels of government to resume a productive conversation. Sigh.
That's it for the News and Documentary Emmy winners I plan on examining -- for now. I might look at the awardees that examine terrorism and the civil wars in the Middle East, but not until after I report on the municipal and state elections happening tomorrow. I'll see how I feel after that. Until then, stay tuned.
Yesterday, I wrote "I'll have more about the other winners of non-fiction programs later this week." I decided today would be that day, especially as it would mean I'd write about "13th" on the 13th. I couldn't let that apt coincidence pass.
"13th" won more awards than any other nonfiction program with statues given out for four categories. Variety lists them and quotes Ava DuVernay's acceptance speech.
“13th” won for documentary special as well as writing, motion design and original music and lyrics for “The Letter to the Free” by Common, Robert Glasper and Karriem Riggins. The Netflix documentary, which also collected a Peabody Award and an Oscar nomination this year, led the winners field with four trophies.
Documentary or Nonfiction Special..."13th" is the clear favorite, given the reputation and quality of the director and the urgency of the movie's topic, but any of these shows could win. ... Writing for a Nonfiction Program...Without "Planet Earth II" in the mix, I think "13th" is the favorite, even though I'm rooting for "Bill Nye Saves the World," even though I don't think it deserves it.
In its final nominated category, "13th" would be the winner of a game of "One of these things is not like the other" in this field. All the rest are for comedies. At least as the most serious, it would stand out. That written, I'd actually have to listen to all of them to give an informed opinion.
I will say that Common wrote "Glory," the Academy Award winning song for "Selma." That's a point in its favor. In addition, if the Emmy electorate wants to send a message, that might be even more effective, if less popular, than picking a Christmas song from SNL.
I count that as a half. As for Outstanding Motion Motion Design, the nominees weren't listed and a jury picked the awards, so I didn't have a chance to say anything about its chances. Still, calling two-and-one-half out of three is pretty good.
Now for a quote from the acceptance speech.
DuVernay was one of several winners who made emotional pleas for those in media to use their power to speak out on urgent issues, from criminal justice and prison reform to climate change.
“When all kinds of people are feeling aggressively demoralized and devalued, people of justice and dignity need to stand up and make our voices heard,” DuVernay said. “Our voices are stronger than those that try to silence us.”
I second this emotion.
Follow over the jump for the other winners in non-fiction television.
Utah's top leaders are seething over President Barack Obama's proclamation Wednesday to designate 1.35 million acres in southeast Utah as the Bears Ears National Monument, vowing to do everything they can to undo the presidential action. Andrew Adams reports.
I'm with the art store owner, both that the monument will be a good thing and that it will last.
President Obama designated the first-ever marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, 4,913 square miles off the coast of New England. "It’s been said that we don’t inherit the Earth from our parents so much as we borrow it from our children."
Thank you, Mr. President, for your efforts on behalf of a sustainable future.
Happy BuyNothing Day, my name for BlackFriday. I'm still in an "I can't be all DOOM all the time" mood, so I'm going to continue taking advantage of the holiday weekend to post something light-hearted, Obama's Top 10 Corniest Thanksgiving Turkey Jokes from the Wall Street Journal. Don't worry about the sound cutting out; it will come back.
True to the decades-long tradition, the U.S. president pardons a Thanksgiving turkey at the White House every year. Watch President Obama’s top 10 most eye roll-worthy turkey-themed cracks of his presidency.
I am going to miss him, especially compared to his replacement.
Mr. Obama wasn't the only president, past, present, or future celebrating Labor Day. WXYZ reported this morning on Bill Clinton to march in Detroit's Labor Day parade, which also mentioned that Hillary would be in Cleveland today for that city's Labor Day parade.
The previous clip mentioned that "prominent Democrats" usually appeared in the Labor Day parade. That's certainly the case here. In addition to Mr. Clinton, I saw Senator Debbie Stabenow, U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell, and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan walking alongside the former President and his Secret Service detail. I'm sure others more familiar with Detroit political figures could recognize City Council members, County Commissioners, and other local politicians in the video.
The first WXYZ clip also mentioned Donald Trump's visit to Detroit on Saturday. I'll have more on that visit as well as that of Green Party nominee Jill Stein tomorrow. Stay tuned.
1.5 million Laysan albatross call Midway home. The albatross carry five tons of plastic onto the island each year - plastic that was created, consumed and then dumped by humans, and is now is being fed by these birds to their chicks.
The plastic bags, coffee cups and toothbrushes we use each day don't magically disappear when we throw them away. Some plastic gets recycled, but a lot of it - 8 million tons each year - ends up in the world's oceans.
CNN visited Midway this summer, where an endless plastic tide washes up on shore every day, poisoning and killing the island's rich wildlife. Plastic is part of the sand and part of the fish, and experts fear it could be making its way into the food we eat.
Our exclusive documentary from one of the remotest island chains on the planet is due out soon. It explores the damage that plastic pollution is doing to the world - and the damage it could be doing to you.
Plastic pollution in the oceans has been a recurring subject of this blog. In addition to this year's World Oceans Day, I've written about the PacificGarbagePatch, banning plastic bags, and shoes made from marine plastic. I couldn't resist posting about this topic again when the opportunity arose.
We want to preserve our parks and the 100th anniversary is an appropriate time to remind everyone their significance and importance. You know, when you vote this November, you should vote to preserve our parks -- it’s another line item in the federal budget, another thing for the government to do. I want everybody to realize that once you “find your park,” you will find an appreciation for the importance of the parks.
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You have to say to everybody: “vote.” I’m not telling you for whom to vote, but please take the environment into account when you vote...If the election goes to the candidate who is in favor of addressing climate change and preserving the environment it will move in one way, but if it goes the other way, it will be very difficult -- it will lower the quality of life for billions of people. Unite[d] States has to be a world leader when it comes to the environment.
Follow over the jump for two more examples of politics and the national parks.
