The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Diggersf

From The New York Times:

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew acclaim and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.

Long before green was cool, Sen. Edward Kennedy embraced environmental issues, tackling the oil companies in the mid ’70s and cosponsoring the first law to establish fuel economy standards more than 30 years ago. In recent years, he had urged the EPA to take action to clean up mercury pollution from power plants and cosponsored a resolution to end commercial whaling; his America COMPETES Act, which was signed into law in 2007, has proved vital to supporting research for clean energy technologies. The League of Conservation Voters, the political voice of the green movement, consistently ranked his voting record among the most environmentally progressive. 

Addressing the Democratic National Convention in 1980 after pulling out of the presidential race, Sen. Kennedy now famously said, “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.” 

For more on Kennedy’s environmental legacy (and the work that we will continue), click here. 

Our sincerest condolences to the Kennedy family. 

–Jennifer Grayson

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