What Obama Must Do On the Road to Copenhagen. By Michael Northrop and David Sassoon, YaleEnviro360, February 2, 2009. "President Obama will face one of the most important moments of his presidency this year on Dec. 18... the final day of the global climate meetings in Copenhagen, a day that will signify whether the world community has finally mustered the will to rein in soaring greenhouse gas emissions. That fixed date, combined with escalating scientific urgency and unparalleled political opportunity, make 2009 the do-or-die year for comprehensive federal climate action... He is in a position to seize 2009 and do three things to meet the climate challenge: properly educate the American public about climate change and the need for immediate action; exercise the full might of his executive powers and regulatory discretion under the Clean Air Act to jump-start action; and spend freely from his enormous store of political capital to lead the government to enact comprehensive federal climate legislation. If he does, the United States will reclaim the mantle of global leadership when it takes its seat in Copenhagen...
"Obama must... make a prime-time, televised address to the nation about the climate crisis and the need for immediate action and U.S. global leadership. Such a speech would send a clear signal to the American public and the political establishment and prepare them to come together with the nations of the world in Copenhagen to meet this grave challenge. Simultaneously, the president must travel to Copenhagen with real regulatory and legislative achievements...
"There is considerable debate about the form which a cap and a price signal should take -- in recent weeks a carbon tax has even been a topic of renewed discussion. None of the options is perfect, but one of them is rising as a preferred choice because it protects low-and middle-income families from rising energy prices. It's called 'cap-and-dividend.' Under this program, permits to pollute the air with greenhouse gases would be auctioned and the proceeds returned to citizens... cap-and-dividend... creates a fundamental break with business-as-usual. It establishes a new, winning, cognitive frame of reference: the democratic principle that an equal share of the sky belongs to each person. Indeed, Peter Barnes, who originally formulated this concept and has championed it tirelessly, began by asking a simple question: Who owns the sky? Without a price signal, nobody does, and global warming pollution will proceed essentially unchecked... Now is the year for President Obama to act, while the window of opportunity is wide open."
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