Climate Agreement: Continue Talking

December 4, 2005 – Vol.10 No.37

CLIMATE AGREEMENT: CONTINUE TALKING.

The policy on climate change from the Bush Administration for 5 years has become predictable and unyielding: Don’t commit to a binding international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Cuts in emissions should be voluntary. Technology will solve the problem. Large and growing emitters like China and India should be asked to make cuts. Mandatory cuts would damage the U.S. economy.

Those are likely the unchanging words that the world will have to listen to for at least the next 1100-plus days until a new administration is sworn in.

(Even after Inauguration Day 2009 there’s no guarantee that the U.S. will take any governmental action on global warming. Congress must change its tune. The nation, too, could elect another Bush-a-like.)

So for next three years here’s a suggestion for those trying to get the Administration to act: Ask them to show the kind leadership on global warming that they say they have. Prove it to the people. Prove it to the world.

For example:

--- If the Administration wants countries, companies, even consumers, to voluntarily make cuts, the President, using the bully pulpit, should ask them to do so.

President Bush asked people to drive less after Katrina to save fuel and cut prices. They did, and gas prices came down. Extend a similar request to companies to tackle climate change. Continue to speak of efforts by companies such as General Electric that have shifted gears and are now focusing, to some extent, on clean energy.

--- If the Administration wants technology to solve the problem, focus on ALL technologies available, not just hydrogen or cleaner coal. Bush signed the most recent energy legislation in front of Stirling Energy’s solar thermal dishes. How many Americans are aware that this technology to convert sunlight to electricity is available now and is emission free? Prove that America can lead the technological way to emission reductions.

--- If it wants China and India to be involved, lead them by example. Show them that leadership combined with technical ingenuity can go a long way toward solving the problem. Do it at home and they may follow.

--- If it believes the U.S. economy would be damaged by cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, lay out to the American people exactly where the damage might be. Then ask Americans to show their inventive, entrepreneurial and can-do spirit to find ways to avert the damage. Again, use the bully pulpit.

Despite a brief childish walkout by the U.S. delegation, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal came to an end on a positive note. Talks will continue on what to do after 2012 when Kyoto ends. The U.S. will be there, provided the talk doesn’t lead to commitments.