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| Climate change over ten year increments Source |
Even as a senator in 2010, current Secretary of State John Kerry has pushed for effective climate change and energy policy. Now Kerry is once again at the forefront of the battle to ensure that the United States develops comprehensive and effective policies to deal with our ever changing climate and the consequences that come with it. Although Kerry has the drive to fight climate change, his actual successes are few, and the Senate has historically rejected most climate change bills. One of Kerry's goals as of now is to establish a strong relationship with China in order to reach a 2015 treaty over climate change.
The United States has had a long history of promising to do something about climate change, but Congress has not agreed on or passed any effective climate change policies in the last decade. However, just recently the EPA proposed new regulations in regard to carbon pollution for new power plants. Things at the capital seem to be changing and people are noticing that Kerry has brought in a new "dynamic" while dealing with climate change. While he does face obstacles, the "skepticism is much thinner" and the new year seems to be an opportune time to finally change our nation's passivity dealing with climate change. Do you think effective climate change policy will be created and passed this year, especially in light of controversial issues such as the Keystone Pipeline? Or will climate change once again be overshadowed by other issues like healthcare and the economy and Kerry's campaign is just another promise that will fall apart in the future?
4 comments:
I think its important to note that the president is now supporting debate about climate change. In the past, congress has been pretty passive about this topic, but I'm sure executive support will make a substantial impact. It also helps to use relations with China, a country that we need to have good relations with, to gather support for the unpopular climate change issue. Although climate change is often ignored, foreign relations is at the top of the priority list for congress. I think using China will bring much more discussion over the topic than before. However, healthcare and the economy are much bigger issues today. I don't think climate change can beat those two topics in just a year. I think we can expect the debate on climate change to rise, but will take a will not see it as the center of debate for a while.
In addition to Rick's comment, I do think that despite the surge in debate and action regarding climate change, relatively speaking it will still be placed on the back burner. Environmental degradation isn't necessarily a recent issue, and to me it's always been one of those topics that have always been there but never resolved or at least talked about enough. There have been moments where I thought the issue would be put on a national platform (Exxon Valdez and BP oil spills, Love Canal, etc). It's not that these issues aren't talked about, but are we really paying attention to them when there's health insurance and unemployment to worry about? Furthermore, we live in relatively privileged country and many Americans don't witness and experience the effects of environmental degradation firsthand. Year after year scientists warn us about how catastrophic conditions will become if we do not change the way we behave, and even though climate science is improving, our policies to combat these issues are not. I wonder how long it will take until climate change will be viewed as a national crisis - and will it be too late then?
Finally, here is a look at how ignorant many Americans are about climate change, and how we still have a long way to go: http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/01/01/13-dumbest-things-media-said-about-climate-chan/197331
It's great that it's becoming an issue that more people are aware of and this focus by the Obama administration on the issue proves that. However, I don't believe their efforts are going to make much of an impact. Brad Plumer explains the State Department's 2014 Climate Action Report on The Washington Post's Wonkblog. It basically outlines that they are trying to reduce US carbon emissions to match 2005 levels. I see two problems with this approach. First is that, as Brad states, US emissions are set to rise again after 2020 even if they meet the US climate change goals of reducing emissions below 2005 levels. This means that even if we manage to reduce emissions, it is essentially meaningless unless it remains at that level or lower. Secondly, he says, "But that's not nearly enough to avert a 2°C rise in temperatures, which is the broader goal. For that, all the world's major emitters would need to work together to keep cutting emissions sharply between now and 2050 and beyond. That entails a fairly rapid transition to cleaner sources of energy." Carbon emissions and other pollutants can remain in the atmosphere for decades, so even reducing emissions won't solve the world's climate crisis. Yes, we need that sharp reduction and rapid transition to sustainable energy, but I think we also need to focus on researching technologies to reduce the effects of global warming or the amount of CO2 and other pollutants in the atmosphere. The public tends to focus on the emissions aspect of the climate crisis, but really the pollutants remain in the atmosphere and as long as that's true global warming will continue. Thus, while I think this is a good start, if the Obama administration hopes to make a significant impact on solving the climate crisis, they will need to increase their efforts.
Brad Plumer: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/03/with-a-bit-of-luck-the-u-s-could-actually-hit-its-2020-climate-change-goals/
The thing about climate change and pollution is that it is rarely an immediate issue. Unemployment, the economy, and social debates are things that seem to apply to people in more pressing ways. As such, they are typically prioritized. Like Rick and Susan said, climate change will probably remain on the back burner.
However, any progress is good. It doesn't have to be a sudden fix for any new legislation to be worthwhile. Hopefully something actually passes though, considering the currently still divided state of our government.
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