They may seem like two disparate topics: climate change and an archaic Senate procedural rule. But they have more in common than you might think. Thanks to the Senate filibuster rule, essentially any piece of legislation needs 60 votes, a super-majority, if it hopes to pass.

Photo via DC Kaleidoscope

You probably haven't seen many Amoco gas stations on the side of the road for a while. That's because BP merged with the 'American Oil Co.' in the 90s, the British company's logo and namesake took over. As a result, all Amoco stations were converted to BP stations, leaving Amoco stations nowhere to be found.

I've taken to writing with some frequency about the mainstream media's failure to cover climate change. Among the many reasons I do so is, well, because of the mainstream media's persistent and rather abhorrent failure to cover climate change. Make sense? Thought so. And while I did dole out some blame to the media for helping to kill the climate bill, I feel that the subject warrants a post of its own.

Photo via Celsias

A total of 10 petitions, including one from the US Chamber of Commerce, were sent to the EPA challenging its 2009 ruling that it can regulate greenhouse gases as a harmful pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

Image via a Green Living

You'd be forgiven for thinking that AB 32, California's climate change law, was truly controversial. Republican candidates running for office this year have taken to publicly bashing it, calling it a job killer and worse.

Photo via Boston

In 1969, an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California released a few million gallons of oil into marine ecosystems -- eight months later, it was among the primary catalysts for the biggest pro-environmental movement in the nation's history, starting with the first Earth Day.

Photo via US Coast Guard

It was a surprise to absolutely nobody when news surfaced this week that BP's gaffe-prone CEO Tony Hayward would be resigning in coming months (that he'd be snagging a handsome $17 million pension for a job not-so-well-done was another story).

Photo via the Wall Street Journal

The future of climate policy is very much up in the air right now.

Ned Farquhar, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals Management, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, addresses the guests at Terra-Gen Power's ground breaking ceremony for Alta Wind Energy Center in Mojave, California.

Brown pelicans are among the species that have suffered greatly from the Gulf oil spill.