Archives » Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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Daniel Stone
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Jan 27, 2009 10:39 PM
The week since President Obama took office have been something of a
coming out party for the environmental movement in Washington. It
kicked off with several Green Inaugural Balls, bringing together the
leading environmental advocates in Washington eager to celebrate having
a friend back in the White House. Then Obama announced a series of
clean and green energy initiatives, including a review of California's
request to regulate its own emissions and the implementation of new fuel efficiency standards for cars.
But
the really groundbreaking announcement came not from Obama, but from
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She showed Monday that the
administration wasn't just going to fill old positions with new
science-minded and earth-friendly people. No, the administration would
create some new ones too. Clinton announced at the State Department
Monday a new department -- a special envoy on climate change
-- to diplomatically lead, shape and broker America's influence on
climate issues and global warming leading up to an important
international climate conference later this year. To lead the envoy,
Clinton named Todd Stern, a senior fellow at the Center for American
Progress who worked formerly on climate policy in the Clinton
Administration. "Todd is a creative and clear thinker, a man of great
sensibility and good judgment," Clinton boasted.
Environmental
leaders immediately started fawning. Stern's new position, and his
record, showed that the new president, at least in terms of his
promises on the environment, was keeping his promises. "He's actually
doing what he said he'd do, look at that!" an excited Gene Karpinski,
president of the League of Conservation Voters,
told Newsweek. The broad consensus is that for many years, the world
has doubted America's commitment to combating climate change, made
clear by the Bush Administration's consistent refusal to ratify the
Kyoto treaty that would have meant massive industrial cutbacks. But
Obama staked nearly a third of his campaign on clean energy and the
U.S.'s responsibility to lead the world on climate solutions.
The
federal government has lots of regulatory work to do on environmental
and industrial policy. But in green circles, Stern is welcomed as the
right man for his new job, which will force him to be half-advocate and
half diplomat in order to convince the world that America is serious
about curbing global warming. And he'll be on deadline, too. Copenhagen
will play host to the all-inclusive United Nations climate conference
in December, where Stern will have to ensure the U.S. will have a seat
front-row-center. Several heads of state are expected to attend,
perhaps even Obama himself.
In the new position as head of the
envoy, Stern seemed eager and excited, beaming at Clinton's press
conference announcing him. And he has surprisingly few critics from the
broad green scene that often has trouble agreeing. LCV's Karpinksi
likes him ("Todd has tremendous experience and is smart and strategic.
What's more, he's politically savvy."), as does Alden Meyer, director
of strategy and policy on global warming at the Union of Concerned Scientists,
the Washington science advocacy group that was often frustrated with
the science-lite Bush Administration. "This is a complicated game of
three-dimensional chess and it's good news that Todd knows the issue,"
says Meyer. "He has relationships with people abroad. He comes in with
a very good sense for the landscape."
But with Stern beginning
the work of amplifying Obama's intent to lead on climate change, the
industries and leaders who have long fought against environmental
issues as detrimental to future economic development see Stern's new
job as a bad sign of what's to come. Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe,
perennial climate change denier, belittled the value of the new
position under the State Department, saying it was new in name, but not
actually a new job and would have little effect. "Mr. Stern will have
his work cut out for him trying to negotiate the details for developing
nations to adhere to measurable, reportable, and verifiable emissions
cuts as agreed to in the Bali Action Plan,” Inhofe wrote in an e-mail
to Newsweek. Some contributors to online forums also tisked at the
appointment, arguing that since early effects of climate change are
inevitable, a truly visionary response would be to lead the way in
trying to plan for what's to come. Not to try to play catch-up on the
missteps of the past.
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