The [Climate Policy] Change We Need

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by Sherilย Kirshenbaum

A week ago, Barack Obama addressed the nation that had just elected him the 44th President of the United States. When he named Americaโ€™s greatest challenges, โ€œa planet in perilโ€ was a centerpiece. After the Bush administrationโ€™s eight-year war on our air, oceans, and wildlife, concerned citizens everywhere had justified reason to celebrate, feeling that they too had possibly won a great victory thatย night.

Two days later, Obama returned calls from nine presidents and prime ministers. Accounts of these conversations made world news, with many reports highlighting that climate change had served as a dominant theme. The sudden emphasis places the President-elect in complete contrast to his predecessor, who repeatedly ranked the environment last, or close to it, in his decision-making decisionย process.

In fact, Obama made it clear throughout his campaign that climate change would be a paramount issue under his administration. He set a goal to reduce the countryโ€™s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050, through a cap-and-trade bill that would set a limit on the amount of pollution allowed. Auctioned permits could be bought and sold between those who cut back on carbon emissions and others struggling to meet their quotas. Itโ€™s a flexible, cost-effective system that provides incentives to move toward cleaner energies. Additionally, revenue from the permit auction would fund the research and development of renewableย alternatives.

But let’s be realistic: Past climate bills have failed mainly due to predictable attacks claiming they would damage the economy. This has been in the Republican playbook forever, and codified in the infamous Luntz memo.

Such attacks will be louder now than ever; and yet at the same time, the Congress is also more favorable than ever to change, and the momentum is immense. President Obama can finally succeed on climate policy, then, and every indicator thus far is that he will try to doย so.

The central caveat here is that it’s not clear how the administration will move first, although the economy and energy are known to be the top two priorities, in that order. That’s why we can expect, on climate change, to see Obama focus on a single defining message: The bill will advanceโ€“not hinderโ€“national economicย interests.

This isn’t a novel argument: We’ve already come a long way towards redefining global warming in the public mindset as an economic and national security issue. As Al Gore explained in Sundayโ€™s New York Times, โ€œthe bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis.โ€ And Obama has already outlined an energy plan that would create five million new โ€œgreen collarโ€ jobs to replace โ€œblue collarโ€ jobsย lost.

In fact, we probably shouldn’t expect Obama to act on a global warming bill without simultaneously having a positive piece of legislation to put forward on the โ€œgreen jobsโ€ frontโ€“or to bundle them together in the same bill or legislativeย sweep.

But even then, that would be only half of the task at best. The second critical step will be to work with the international community. We need to pass a domestic climate bill at home, unleash renewable energy investments, and then take that momentum to Copenhagen, Denmark, in late 2009 where the next generation of Kyoto will beย negotiated.

It’s an incredibly tall order to accomplish all of this in a year, which is why we must remember that Barack Obamaโ€™s victory is not, itself, synonymous with the change we need. Instead, itโ€™s provides the hope of change that we must now work together toย achieve.

When Obama spoke in Grant Park, he acknowledged change will require citizens to embrace โ€œa new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrificeโ€ฆa new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.โ€ Indeed, this will be the only way to enact sound climate policy. If we succeed, it will through a great, global collaborativeย effort.

So above all, now is the time to start pushing, chattering, and arguing about how to get a climate solution that’s framed properly and as strong as possible within the realistic constraints of a newly remade (but not infinitely flexible) U.S.ย politics.

In other words, ask not โ€œWill HE make it happen?โ€ Instead, focus on the answer: โ€œYes WEย Can.โ€

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