War and Peeves

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U.S. fails to be climate leader because of war, says Obama

Posted at 7:53 AM on 09 May 2008

The war in Iraq is one reason the U.S. is such an environmental laggard, Barack Obama said in a CNN interview Thursday. "I think the way we have run this war in Iraq has ... led us to ignore the critical needs for us to focus on a sound energy policy in this country," Obama told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "It has left us unable to lead on critical global issues like global warming." Americans, said Obama, "want to succeed, they want to get a college education. They want to be scientists. They want to be, you know, on the cutting edge of clean energy." But, he said, "the dynamism and the innovation of the American people" is stifled "when we're spending close to $200 billion a year in other countries, rebuilding those countries instead of focusing on making ourselves strong."

sources: CNN, CNN

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Comments: (8 comments)

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"They want to be ... "

This is the kind of brilliant connexion, between global problems and Americans' mental and spiritual resources, that we may very well hope Obama to keep making, once he pushes beyond these stupid, pointless, feckless doubts about his patriotism, etc.

As a Columbia graduate, having passed through one of the most distinguished liberal-arts core curriculums in the world, Obama certainly could not be meaning to suggest that only scientists are to be encouraged. We need our artists, our poets, our critics, our philosophers too; and surely Obama understands that, as well as anyone.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 8:30 AM on 09 May 2008

We DO have an energy policy

Senator Obama makes a good point about the war but is missing the bigger point that we have an energy policy, it's just not a good one for the American people. But, it's good for someone and whenever you wonder about why something as important as a sound energy policy has gone askew, follow the money.

When we allow big energy to run our government by buying off the hearts and minds of elected and other government officials, the plan we have today is what we get. Fossil fuel prices are at ever increasing record levels (including oil today) and the ExxonMobils of the world are raking in the profits.

The first step to solving the problem is to get corporations out of government.

An easy second step, which all renewable energy technology developers say will make a huge differnce in gaining more investment funding for development, is to put a price on carbon. When carbon has a market price then the value of the developing technologies versus the risks can be more accurately determined.

Then we can incentivize what we want by taxing what we don't want. Transfer taxation has for many years been a sound and successful way to allow the market to make choices based on economics while using a graduated tax on coal, for example, to provide incentives to consumers to purchase renewable energy technologies, similar to the current solar energy tax credit (which I took advantage of in 2007) but with enough funding to make big changes in a hurry.

We do need to hurry.

Cheers.

by roncastle at 10:21 AM on 09 May 2008

Obama Command Post: Ground Zero

...war...blah...fail...blah....

Look, Odumba, what sense does it mean to be "Green" when your trapped 20ft under some rubble created by terror squads in the United States?

Texeme.Construct(Participant)

by jabailo at 10:52 AM on 09 May 2008

War and climate

I like him but cannot agree. We have been in this boat since the 70's WAY before this war. Americans do want to be leaders, scientists and innovators and to do that we need to stem the hemmoraging of our highly skilled jobs out to other countries! If you want a student to study math or engineering, you need to make it worthwhile. I appalaud the energy and work of our foreign students, but until we keep some of the jobs here that they go back home to take, it will be tough to reclaim our leadership role in that area.

by patra1756 at 12:24 PM on 09 May 2008

What Americans Really Want

is money. Let's get real. Those who want to get college degrees in order to do good things like protect and restore natural ecosystems are few and far between.

by Wolverine at 2:36 PM on 09 May 2008

You're absolutely right.

Americans--and people almost everywhere, but let's face it, mostly Americans--are way too obsessed with money for anyone's good.

Now, we're not going to change that in time to stop global warming--believe me, I'd really love to try--and the concept doesn't make a good political position, because no one likes the government to dictate philosophy of life. (One of the reasons Kucinich--who in many ways would make a much better President than Hillary or Obama--will never get past the House of Representatives.)

So, we find ways to make protecting the environment worth money. Forcing the market to favor low-GHG energy, and pumping a bunch of money directly into the renewable energy sector--so lots of bright and ambitious college students will smell money and follow their noses that way--are two very good places to start.

Obama's by no means perfect, but he gets that. Hillary gets it, but not as well--she wants to spend about 1/3 of what Obama does on renewables--and McCain only kind of gets it.

by Pathos at 8:55 PM on 10 May 2008

Good Strategy, Pathos

And I fully agree, as far as it goes. There's just one problem: because the human economic system is based on destroying the Earth through extraction and burning of fossil fuels, extraction of minerals, and other destruction of ecosystems like killing trees and livestock grazing, what ways could there be to make protecting the environment worth more than destroying it?

I think the only proper solution is to try to solve the big problems rooted in human moral deficiencies while at the same time taking your approach and hoping that somehow it works.

About the government, or anyone else, dictating life philosophies, it comes down to the basic principle of anarchy: you only deserve the freedoms for which you take complete responsibility. The human race has not even approached taking responsibility for living properly on our planet. Problem is, anyone qualified to dictate life philosophies is highly disinclined to dictate.

by Wolverine at 9:56 PM on 11 May 2008

The war is a big part of the problem

I'm inclined to think that Obama's comments understate the problem. In addition to being a distraction and a drain on our resources, the Iraq war is, in itself, an environmental and humanitarian disaster. As I've said before, one of the most destructive forces in the world is our hatred and fear of our fellow human beings. (And by the way, jabailo, I don't believe that waging a war of aggression in Iraq has made us one whit safer from a terrorist attack. If anything, it has made the world a more dangerous place.)

Let the jaguars return!

by Storm Dragon at 10:35 AM on 14 May 2008

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