Larry Schweiger is president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation .
As the global warming issue heats up across America, the White House position on global warming is beginning to thaw.
President Bush’s first-ever remarks on global warming in a State of the Union address were a welcome shift, because we have a moral responsibility to solve this problem now to protect our children’s future.
The president proposed reducing gasoline use by 20 percent within 10 years, to promote energy independence and to halt growing U.S. global warming pollution from oil. America’s oil dependency currently accounts for about 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, the key pollutant in global warming. According to the White House, the president's plan will “help confront climate change by stopping the projected growth of carbon dioxide emissions from cars, light trucks and SUVs within 10 years.”
Until now, the White House has refused to reconsider the president’s five-year-old decision to allow global warming pollution to increase indefinitely, ignoring increasingly urgent warnings from scientists that this course could delay action until it is too late to escape catastrophic consequences.
Despite the welcome signs that the White House has shifted, the president’s approach fails to measure up to the moral challenge and urgency needed to tackle global warming and protect our security, wildlife and economy.
Halting pollution from growing emissions won’t get the job done. Today, U.S. global warming pollution emissions total 25 million pounds per minute. We need to cut global warming pollution from gasoline and all other energy sources, and to start now with a mandatory program that guarantees results. We need to set goals to cut emissions from all sources, including automobiles, by 2 percent annually, adding up to a 20 percent cut over the next decade.
The president has dipped a few oars in the water, but he has not fully turned the ship to the right destination.
Nevertheless, the president’s shift is the latest sign of momentum building across America for action on global warming, now “a monster political issue,” according to Wednesday’s Chicago Tribune .
Last week, a coalition of America’s top corporations (including General Electric, Duke Energy, Alcoa and Dupont) joined with environmental groups to call for a 10-30 percent reduction in global warming pollution within 15 years.
Representing more than 55 million Americans, there are now 369 mayors who have signed onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. California is moving forward to cut global warming pollution by 25 percent by 2020, and other states are taking action.
The bar for national action was set earlier this month, when presidential hopefuls Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barak Obama, D-Ill., joined with former Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in calling for new laws to require industry to reduce global warming pollution.
But the White House appears ambivalent about whether to set the nation on course toward a cleaner energy future. Just last week President Bush opposed a House bill to shift billions of dollars of oil subsidies to alternative energy sources. The bill passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, 264 to 163. And the president still wants to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, which will sacrifice one of America’s great unspoiled areas.
Fortunately, the new leadership in Congress has promised to more aggressively pursue action on global warming and set a new course for the nation’s energy policy. They are backed by a rising tide of public demand for action. According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 61 percent of Americans disapprove of the way the President has handled global warming.
During his State of the Union address, President Bush said that we must “solve problems, not leave them to future generations.” In opening the door to more serious action on global warming, the White House is signaling that the days of denials and excuses are history. The age of global warming solutions promises a new energy future that breaks our oil addiction, develops clean, renewable energy sources and creates more American jobs in the process.
To realize that promise, bold and courageous leadership beyond President Bush’s recent proposals will be necessary.
