Any green warrior worth her Nature Conservancy membership was over the moon this past Election night.  I’m not saying Obama is going to be the green messiah, but he was a heck of better eco-choice over the other team that ranted “Drill, baby, drill” and their convention and later featured their VP interviewed in front of a limp, lifeless turkey. So now that Obama is elected President, is he carrying through on his promises for a greener America?

So far, he’s made some great choices, and others that greenies are only half-heartedly supporting.  Obama claims his main agenda is to get America off imported oil and other carbon-rich fuels. But energy independence is only one of the environmental issues that need addresing right away; others include food security, 

Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy

Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was formerly head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  (Apparently this guy won a prize in physics in 1997 for lasers – no word on if his extra brain power can be tapped as a renewable resource.)  As head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chu has been dedicated to studying global warming.  According to Time Magazine, he told an audience in Las Vegas earlier this year that “we have all the technology we need to solve the energy crisis…I think political will is absolutely necessary, but we need to transform.”  The New York Times says Chu will “put a price on carbon, preferably through a cap-and-trade program, and support…cleaner cars, greener buildings and a modernized electrical grid.”

Obama himself pointed out at his press conference announcing Chu's new position, “Chu’s appointment should send a signal to all that this Administration will value science.  We will make decisions based on facts…”  Wow.  Science?  Facts? For real?  Sounds like a good place to start to me.

Lisa Jackson, Head of the EPA

Obama’s appointment of Lisa Jackson as head of the Environmental Protection Agency further encouraged environmentalists.  She is a respected state official from New Jersey, where she was the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection. She is known for being a good listener while being tough as nails, and is the first African-American to head the department. Some have critisized her slower-than-ideal movement on Superfund cleanups in New Jersey, while others see her long-term experience with the EPA (she worked there for 19 years) and her work to actively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Jersey as evidence of her commitment to human health and the environment.

At a news conference about her new job, she said, ""From fighting climate change globally to preventing pollution locally, we face some of the most challenging and complex environmental issues of our time. The solutions may not be simple or easy, but on behalf of every American, I will work tirelessly to pursue them."

Carol Browner, Climate Change Coordinator

Obama also appointed Carol Bowner to be responsible for coordinating the Administration’s work on climate change across Departments.  Browner was head of the EPA under President Clinton and is the longest serving chief in the EPA’s history, a post for which she was roundly praised. She was named "Woman of the Year" by Glamour Magazine in 1998 for her work for the environment, and Kathleen Rogers, environmental attorney and president of the Earth Day Network said, "Carol Browner's appointment as a 'climate czar' should signal to the world that the U.S. is taking a new direction on this issue."

Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Obama has appointed Nancy Sutley as the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  Sutley is the behind-the-scene bureaucrat who has been carrying out Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s environmental agenda.  She is largely credited with making Los Angeles the “greenest big city in America," and she is the first openly gay member of Obama's cabinet.

Ken Salazar, Head of the Department of the Interior 

Ken Salazar got mixed reviews from environmentalists when his name came up as the new head of the Department of the Interior. Salazar was previously the head of Colorado’s natural resources department and the state’s attorney general. While Salazar has opposed landscape-destroying oil-shale mining, and supports renewable energy, he is also known for supporting "clean coal" initiatives in the past- a move which the coal industry supports (many environmentalists assert that clean coal is a myth, based on the fact that coal is the most polluting large-scale energy source).

As reported by the NYTimes, “Salazar has a disturbingly weak conservation record, particularly on energy development, global warming, endangered wildlife and protecting scientific integrity,” said Mr. Patterson, formerly an official of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management and now southwest regional director of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary

The pick of this former Iowa governor for Agriculture Secretary has disappointed some environmentalists, especially those concerned with efficiency and the wiseness of using food for fuel (Vilsack heartily supports biofuels) and the proliferation of genetically modified organisms (GMO's)- he supports those used for pharmaceuticals. The Organic Consumer's Association (OCA) had this (no-holds barred) comment about the nomination of Vilsack: "Obama's choice for Secretary of Agriculture points to the continuation of agribusiness as usual, the failed policies of chemical- and energy-intensive, genetically engineered industrial agriculture," said Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the OCA. "Americans were promised ‘change,’ not just another shill for Monsanto and corporate agribusiness."

Some greenies, locavores and foodies supported writer Michael Pollan for this position, and while that was unlikely, it seems that Vilsack has been and will continue to be tied into the agribusiness model of producing food that has gotten us into the unhealthy-for-people-and-the-planet situation we're knee-deep into now.

Seems like Obama's picks are a mixed bag, which might not be a bad thing, as diversity is important, but the issues are pressing, and they aren't going to be solved by business-as-usual politicking. At the least, the United States can now catch up with the ongoing international climate negotiations, which are headed into major deadline next December in Copenhagen.