Jeff is very right about this — in general, the bigtime political blogosphere neglects environmental issues. This is a lamentable state of affairs. There are probably several factors at work.
First, blogs are very much of the moment. A few, like Mark Schmitt’s Decembrist, are more deliberative and slow-moving, but most — Atrios being the prime example — are almost literally minute-by-minute affairs. As such, they are somewhat bound to the politicians and "mainstream media" they cover. And those politicians, and that mainstream media, don’t cover environmental issues enough. So, the culpability goes upwards.
But still, energy issues come up a lot. Global warming comes up a lot. There’s certainly plenty out there to cover if one of these guys — and really, the big ones are mostly guys — turned their minds to it. It’s a peculiar thing: Even when something notable happens in the political arena, like the strange-bedfellows, bipartisan Energy Future Coalition sending a high-profile letter to President Bush pleading for a saner energy policy, it passes by virtually without note on the big blogs.
Is it just that the particular individuals involved have no interest or background on eco-stuff? Or is there something more systemic at work? Discuss.
