Nation Environmental Correspondent Mark Hertsgaard sits down with GRITtv’s Laura Flanders to talk about the environmental movement and the current climate legislation. Flanders is pessimistic that the current bill will actually reduce emissions. Hertsgaard agrees that the loopholes in the bill will make it difficult to actually cap emissions: "Cap and trade could work if you get tough legislation but that is a very big if in the United States of America," Hertsgaard says.

One glimmer of hope for reducing America’s dependency on coal is that activists and local officials have essentially "created…a de facto moratorium" on coal plants, Hertsgaard explains. The EPA also has the authority and obligation to push through tough regulations, and Hertsgaard warns that the current climate legislation might strip the EPA of that authority.

Hertsgaard also talks about the environmental movement, which seems to have faded since the Copenhagen summit. Hertsgaard describes the movement as the "one unalloyed success out of Copenhagen" because it was "bonafide" and "muscular."

–Morgan Ashenfelter