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Since taking office, Barack Obama has slowly worked to build a green cabinet. These advisers, it's hoped, will help shape a new green-collar economy, plan the United States' strategy to combat climate change, and lead the country to a more responsible energy future. With so many positions, departments, and agencies coming together to for this green team, it is easy to lose track of who's who. This week, Focus Earth sits down with the newly appointed heads of two agencies leading the green charge.
The first is Dr. Jane Lubchenko, now head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Lubchenko worked as a research scientist and professor at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on interactions between ecological communities, mapping biodiversity on costal shores, and interactions between biogeochemistry and the ecology of seashores. Her proposed agenda includes halting over-fishing, protecting ocean habitats, and establishing a National Climate Service.
The second green-team member is Lisa Jackson, now head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the course of her long career in environmental protection and management, she has worked for the EPA and served as New Jersey Commissioner of Environmental Protection. In New Jersey, she led pollution compliance sweeps in two of the states most notoriously unpatrolled cities. Jackson also generated some controversy among the state's toxic-site cleanup workers, who claim she suppressed science to achieve political ends.
Don't miss interviews with Jane Lubchenko and Lisa Jackson on Focus Earth: G20 and EPA and NOAA Interviews.
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View and Vote - Obama Green Stimulus Projects
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