Saturday's energy & climate stories

Trump to announce new Cuba policy next week
Trump is expected to announce next Friday a policy that could reverse Obama-era flexibility on who can travel to and do business with Cuba, according to the The Miami Herald. That would make true on a campaign promise — he said in September 2016 he would "reverse" the concessions Obama gave to Cuba.
What to expect: Trump favoring Cuban-Americans who were exiled during Fidel Castro's regime, who Trump views as key to his Florida election win. Politico reports many think he won't reverse the "wet-foot/dry-foot" policy that allowed Cuban immigrants to become legal residents in the U.S. And Trump could limit business with the Cuban military and cut U.S. tourism there, per The Herald.
National security implications: Seven GOP lawmakers have urged Trump to keep Obama's policies on Cuba since Russia and China are enhancing their relationship with Cuba right now, on oil and trade, respectively.

Warming to Gore
Interview magazine's Editor-in-chief Nick Haramis interviews Al Gore ahead of the July 28 nationwide release of his documentary "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power":On not getting stale while traveling the world leading seminars for climate activists:I update my slide show almost every day. I have a personal staff of ten in Nashville that helps me scour the internet and other media around the world for the latest scientific peer-reviewed findings, the latest examples of climate-related extreme weather events, and the latest examples of progress.On maintaining a positive outlook:I had the privilege of working with the late economist Rudi Dornbusch, who once said, "Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could." Where solar energy is concerned — and wind energy and battery storage and electric vehicles and efficiency technologies — that is what we are now seeing.
On parallels between climate deniers and gay-rights opponents:
I think they're more similar than different. The gay rights movement of recent years has been an inspiring victory for humanity and it is in the tradition of the civil rights movement ...God intends for us to take responsibility for how we treat God's creation, and if we choose to use the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet as an open sewer for 110-million tons of global-warming pollution every day, the consequences are attributable to us.

