Climate Progress Person of the Year

Climate Progress: Until last week, this long-beloved annual traditional of Climate Progress seemed to be a lock for one person — Nobel laureate, itinerant educator, and media superstar Al Gore. Sadly, he only makes first runner up this year. Similar to Time magazine, our Person of the Year is awarded to the person or group who “for better or for worse … has done the most to influence the events of the year” in the climate arena.

By single-handedly stopping any international action on climate at Bali, by stopping California from regulating tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions, by forcing Congress to drop almost all non-oil-related provisions to cut GHGs from the energy bill — all in one week! — one man proved his unchallenged high-impact misleadership on the issue of the century: Dick Cheney George Bush.