Comment pubs.acs.org/est
Four More Years: An Energy and Climate Agenda
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will sign and ratify the successor agreement to the Kyoto Accords in 2015 at the United Nations Climate Convention. Make no mistake. This is a gargantuan task. But we have taken on big, environmental challenges before. The Montreal Protocol in 1989 proved that international cooperation can be successful. It eliminated the use of Freon chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer that protects us from ultraviolet radiation and cancer. Without the Montreal treaty, the ozone hole would now have opened wide from Antarctica and beyond to affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. What’s more, those Freon-like chemicals would have more than doubled the current manmade greenhouse effect. So today, through bipartisan partnership with Representative Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senator Reid (D-Nevada), we are announcing comprehensive climate change and energy legislation, The Energy Resources and Climate Change Protection Act of 2013 in Congress. It will send a clear price signal into the marketplace that fossil fuels are too expensive. A fee will be placed on them at the producer or point of entry, and this fee will be returned to the American people through quarterly dividends per person. It is revenue neutral. Energy-conserving individuals will actually save money, while those using too many fossil fuels will pay more. Through time, this Act will create enormous incentives to save energy, to buy energy efficient cars and appliances, and to spur growth of renewables from small solar to large wind. Fossil energy will become considerably more expensive, but renewables will become that much cheaper, and then the market will decide. Our plan will neither grow government nor provide any revenue for government. Rather good government is simply the catalyst that ensures that we pay the true costs of fossil fuels considering their inevitable damages to climate, air quality, and human health. It is a new day and a new era. I look forward to employing America’s creative energies on this formidable task. Thank you.
n imaginary speech by Barack Obama on the commencement of his second term as President... My fellow Americans, despite good intentions, we have failed ourselves in recent years when it comes to the environment. It is not because the cause is unimportant or under-appreciated, rather it is because our ambition and resolve have not risen to the challenge. We can do better. For over 200 years, the world has powered its economy with coal, oil, and natural gas. This has endowed us with jobs, prosperity, and creation of wealth. But now it also becomes clear that it has come at a terrible price to planet earth and the services that she provides. Our emissions are accumulating in the atmosphere and acidifying the oceans. Our climate is changing, our glaciers are melting, sea level is rising, and the frequency of storms is increasing. When we burn fossil fuels for energy, we emit greenhouse gases that blanket the earth and disrupt our climate system. The first thing that we need to change is our mindset. Preventing climate change is possible, and it is the right thing to do. We can write our greatest chapter in history and solve the foremost challenge of the 21st century by addressing this problem now while prospering economically. It will become our “reason for being” in the next few generationsto transition from the fossil age to something betterenergy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy systems. Jobs will be created, the air will become purer, and the economy will expand by extirpating the old (polluting fossil fuels) and replacing it with something much better (conservation, efficiency, and renewables). It is clear that we (in the U.S.) have emitted the most greenhouse gases and benefitted greatly from this abundant energy supply, so it is our responsibility to lead the way in transitioning to a better future. There is no more noble purpose than to be the first to act when the need is great and the stakes are high. We need every American to be involved from Main Street to Wall Street, from board rooms to class rooms, from kindergarten kids to corporate executives. It will not work unless we all pull together and are committed. That is why I am announcing a new President’s Council for Energy Renewal with a program that stretches from “K through gray”from kindergarten to seniorsto engage the creativity of our entire population for SOLUTIONS. You may ask: What about the rest of the worldshould not they be responsible also? First of all, you should know that, indeed, many other countries have acted before us and ratified the Kyoto Climate Convention. They have taken a first baby step toward solving the problem. The U.S. did not participate. But we can correct that now. You see, there is no upwind anymoreeveryone is downwind from someone else. The damages are clear and unsustainable: more frequent extremes like Superstorm Sandy, greater flooding, more prolonged and severe droughts, record wildfires, melting glaciers and vanishing permafrost. That is why today I am announcing that the U.S. will lead negotiations at the next Conference of the Parties (COP19), and ultimately, we © 2013 American Chemical Society
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Jerald L. Schnoor, Editor-in-Chief AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
[email protected]. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Published: January 15, 2013 1181
dx.doi.org/10.1021/es305204x | Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, 47, 1181−1181
