Taking Stock of President Obama's Environmental Efforts

On Tuesday September 4, 2012, Democrats opened their national convention by defending President Obama’s record and asking Americans to be patient. In their first four years in office, the Obama administration’s green efforts have been resisted by unprecedented Republican obstructionism and an electorate misinformed about the science of climate change. Others have criticized Obama for not doing enough to move the green agenda forward.

Despite a highly polarized political landscape, Obama has accomplished a great deal on energy and the environment. President Obama has worked to advance green jobs, electric vehicles, conservation, clean energy and efficiency.

Obama Addresses Solutions to Climate Change Long Before Becoming President (Video)

Although President Obama addressed the topic of climate change in a recent MTV interview, he has taken a lot of heat from environmentalists for his failure to address the issue in the 2012 presidential debates. However, Obama has been a stalwart supporter of the environment for years, long before becoming President. As revealed in this video, when Obama was a Senator he boldly advocated for action on climate change. These statements were well ahead of the vast majority of his peers and the American public. While some are concerned that the President has abandoned his stance on climate change, it is more likely that he is playing it smart in a highly partisan and contentious election cycle, where many Americans have succumbed to misinformation.

US Presidential Elections 2012: President Obama Addresses Climate Change (Video)

Environmentalists who were bitterly disappointed that climate change was not on the radar in the 2012 presidential elections will be pleased to note that President Obama has finally broached the topic. On October 26, President Obama addressed the topic in an interview by MTV. In fairness, Obama had previously mentioned green energy and green jobs in the first debate. In the same debate Republican nominee Mitt Romney lied about the success of green jobs to undermine the President's record. However, none of the debates made any mention of climate change.

Why President Obama was Unable to do More on the Environment (Video)

Although President Obama has done more to reduce America's climate change impacts than any president in US history, many wish he would have done far more. Anyone who wants to know why the US has not made more progress advancing efforts to address climate change need only take a look at this video. As seen in this clip President Obama is laughed at during his state of the union address after referring to the "overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change". Further progress on the environment is attributable to the astounding failure of many in Congress to accept the facts about climate change.

President Obama Addresses Climate Change at the UN (Video)

"The threat from climate change is serious it is urgent and it is growing. our generations response to this challenge will be judged by history. For if we fail to meet it boldly and swiftly and together we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe....The time we have to reverse this is running out, and yet we can reverse it."

President Obama Spells out his Climate Change Agenda Before Taking Office (Video)

At the 2009 conference of US governors, then President-elect Obama made the case for addressing climate change. Although he promised to open a new chapter on climate change, the President was soon confronted by obstructionism from Republicans and resistance from some Democrats.

The Climate Voters Project

A new project, called Climate Voters, could be operated within the League of Conservation Voters, or could be part of a collaborative effort in which many environmental organizations participate.

This is the project’s slogan:

We care about climate change and we vote. Climate change is happening now. We need public policy to address this problem. We will vote and campaign against those who refuse to acknowledge the problem, and for those who will address the problem.

Climate Voters’ mission is to give a political voice to growing numbers of people concerned about climate change. As the problems connected with climate change worsen, political infrastructure needs to be put in place to mobilize and organize a movement that forces politicians to take the issue seriously.

While there are environmental organizations that dabble in electoral politics and voter engagement organizations that dabble in environmental issues, there is no organization that is currently exclusively electoral and exclusively focused on climate change. An important niche for pushing policy change is currently not being filled.

While the League of Conservation Voters deals with a large number of environmental concerns, there is no voter engagement operation that speaks to and mobilizes citizens whose primary concern is climate change. The League could use its expertise in environmental voter engagement to build up this separate organization within its umbrella, or the League could put together collaborative effort with other organizations, like 350.org, which is focused on climate change but has no electoral operation.

While there are those who question the science behind climate change, these people will be increasingly marginalized as the problem becomes undeniable. Climate change is going to become more and more important in public policy as the environmental situation becomes more dire; rising sea levels, extreme weather, shrinking glaciers and all these trends will bring with them the rising tide of climate refugees. Climate change will become more salient as an issue and candidates will be forced to take a position on whether they want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There will be an unmet need to mobilize voters on climate as the issue consumes more and more of our political discussion.

The increasing politicization of the climate change issue means voter mobilization is a crucial step in a winning political strategy. Politicians, who argue against cutting emissions, are getting more and more bold. Their bold statements make them more politically vulnerable. There needs to be pushback from an organization that is electorally focused. As the problems and evidence mount, it will become easier and easier to silence the climate deniers.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require policy change at the federal level. For this to happen, politicians will need to feel the heat on Election Day. When politicians take the political power of the climate change activists seriously, they will pass laws to reduce emissions. Existing environmental non-profits are not taken seriously enough on Election Day because they don’t have the capacity to deliver votes and by doing so, unseat politicians. This is why Obama is afraid to even bring up the issue in this campaign because Climate Voters are not perceived as a potent force in election campaigns.

Some may argue it is too early to build up Climate Voters, that there are just not enough people who care about the issue, that climate change is vague, far away and does not engage people’s emotions. But I would argue this is why we need to start the campaign now that targets various constituencies and find a way of framing this outreach that engages people’s emotions. We can begin with the environmentalists, there are enormous lists of environmental votes that we can compile, then we can move on young people — after all it is their future which is at stake, then farmers, who have outsized influence in Congress due to the make up of the senate. Farmers will certainly be on the front lines of the climate struggle. Then there are the various people in involved in the burgeoning clean tech and renewable energy industries. We see how wind power could play a role as Obama and Romney fight for voters in a battleground state like Iowa. Lastly, we could target mothers and seniors with a direct emotion appeal: aren’t they concerned about the world they are leaving their children and grandchildren?

A political movement to address climate change will not be built on its own. We need to put the infrastructure in place as public opinion moves and concern grows and politicians won’t act unless the Climate Voters force them too by raising their collective voice on Election Day.

Source: Global Warming is Real (http://s.tt/1nhYi)

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