Was 2009 a good or bad year for green?  On balance I’d say it was a net positive: we got rid of G.W. Bush and his oilman cronies, saw the Obama administration throw some significant seed money at alternative energy R&D, and got the EPA back doing what it was created to do.  On the down side — the economy makes changing anything that costs money a tough sell; Congressional Republicans are stuck voting “Nay” on everything and won’t be changing that approach anytime soon; and big money still runs Washington.

What follows is a list of some observations on the year past, some green – some not, some funny – some not.

• The Copenhagen Climate Summit ended up looking like a typical Congressional vote on healthcare reform. The gap between the climate “haves” and the “have nots” isn’t going to get much smaller in the next year.
• Some purloined emails, a few warm days and Senator James “Junkscience” Inhofe and his global warming naybobs have new momentum in their fight against science and reality.
• Charlie Sheen and Tiger Woods continued their efforts to fight zero population growth, the sanctity of marriage and net worth of their corporate sponsors.
• I nominate Lady Gaga for my “Biggest Affront to Nature 2009″ award.  Her costumes are the most appalling waste of natural resources since the 1971 Yugo and her singing has driven at least 3 endangered species to extinction.
• 2009 saw the gray wolf taken off the endangered species list and gleefully hunted by folks in states like Idaho and Montana.  This ain’t over yet…
• The blundering performance of Congressional Democrats energized Fox News blowhards Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity in their shrill effort to promote fear of healthcare reform, climate change legislation and black Presidents.
• Also in entertainment…Stephen Colbert and John Stewart countered the Fox blather with intelligent humor and insightful truthiness…
• Finally, the one thing we learned in 2009 – change is one tough nut.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!