The Climate Challenge

Obama and McCain both put the environment among their priorities, but with different and weak proposals.

It was time that this happened; it seems that the United States will finally have a president who will take the issue of climate change seriously, and take concrete action. Unless there is some tragic event or disease, in November either Barack Obama or John McCain will be elected president. In contrast to the George Bush-Dick Cheney administration of the past 8 years, the McCain presidency or the Obama presidency in all probability will give a great deal of attention to climate change, they will consider it a threat of high priority. In the past Obama, the Democratic candidate and McCain, the Republican candidate, were lleading on this front, even though the Obama strategy in terms of climate change is much more ambitious than that of McCain and enjoys strong support among US environmentalists.

Obama is in favor of what the intergovernmental panel on Climate Change believes to be necessary to prevent a catastrophic climate change; cut greenhouse gas emission by 80 percent by 2050. To realize this ambitious result, Obama would aim to bring into effect the so-called ‘cap and trade’ system (tradable emission permits), under which the government would sell to United States corporations permits to emit greenhouse gas, investing the profits stemming from this in the development of eco-sustainable energy and benefits for the Americans hit hard financially by the heavy energy costs. Beyond this, Obama is in favor of a “much more aggressive increase in standards for saving fuel (for cars) and a standard that would make mandatory the use of as much as 25 percent renewable energy by 2025″, said Gene Karpinski, executive director of the League of Conservation Voters, the most important U.S. environment group that decided to support Obama.

McCain has a better position with respect to the rest of his party on the environmental issue, but he doesn’t go as far as Obama. He said in fact that he wanted to obtain by 2050 a cut of greenhouse gas emission by only 60 percent, but the real problem is that it will be hard for his policies to be able to ensure reductions by this amount. The cap-and-trade system proposed by McCain would freely assign most permits for emissions, a choice that environmentalists criticize, considering it a concession to corporations that would actually reduce the incentive to decrease pollution. McCain also says that he is in favor of the enabling of exploration of oil deposits and the construction of dozens of nuclear plants while Obama does not share these proposals.

In practice, Obama and McCain are both far behind in comparison with ex vice president Al Gore, the man who many people believe should have been president. In an important speech, in July, Gore fixed the reference points for what US policy should be, or really what should be done to prevent a climate catastrophe. As President John F. Kennedy in 1961 assured that the United States was committed to land on the moon in ten years, Gore encouraged the next president to work to make the US energy demand 100 percent freed from the use of combustible fuels within the next ten years.

The technical obstacles that get in the way of the realization of an energy supply of zero impact of carbon dioxide can be overcome with targeted investments – as Gore argues – which in turn would make the economy stronger, not weaker. If the human race is to be able to have a chance of surviving global climate change, the next president of the United States will have to make himself the supporter of an almost revolutionary approach to the problem. In his speech, Gore excluded himself from wanting to serve in a future Obama administration and argued that his job is to “to create a political space” in which all leaders can do the right thing in relation to climate change. As was foreseen, the US political and media establishment dismissed the speech of Gore as “bold, but unrealistic”, as “Time” reported.

Gore’s speech seems an obvious open to Obama, who based his entire electoral campaign for presidency on the power of common people to bring about concrete change. The slogan of his campaign is “Yes we can”. But nonetheless, will Obama really succeed, if elected, in translating these words into reality? He is known for being a stubborn negotiator of compromises and undoubtedly knowing how to make compromises is an indispensable dowry of a good politician. Obama should however remember one thing: in contrast to politicians, the Earth cannot make compromises.