What will, if anything, President Obama say about climate in the State of the Union address?
John Kerry, the de facto leader on the issue in the Senate, told The Hill that he expects President Obama to embrace "major initiatives" on climate in tonight's State of the Union address.
Carol Browner, former director of the EPA, currently serving as director of the White House's effort on climate change, said she believed the State of the Union address would include a "strong endorsement" of clean-energy efforts led by her office, but also said she's leaving the office, a discouraging sign.
What could Obama say about climate? The story about Browner strongly implies that he will simply duck the subject, in an effort to be nice to Republicans, who have become — almost without exception — deniers. Even John McCain, who once championed legislation on climate change, has changed his spots, and on the campaign trail talked about the "great questions" on the science of climate change.
Advance word says that Obama will term this our Sputnik moment, and call for $150 billion in clean energy over ten years, while touting the appointment of GE chairman and clean energy advocate Jeff Immelt to a largely ceremonial jobs post.
What would climate hawks like to see? I would like Obama to point out the comparison between the predictability of the Great Recession, which was avoidable, a bipartisan report concluded today, and the damaging effects of climate change, the worst of which are still avoidable.
The full report on the financial crisis won't be released until Thursday, but here's the conclusion from preliminary reports:
"The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done.”
Similarly, the worst downstream effects of climate change — scarring droughts, the acidification of the ocean, the melting of the ice sheets — are still avoidable, if we act now.
Fortunately, we have thoughtful folks thinking this through for us, as Toles reminds us…
Kit Stolz 