Congress

The second year of the Obama Era is young, but we may be seeing the emergence of Obama 2.0 — a president willing to do battle against the dark forces of stasis and negativity.

Obama 1.0 didn’t want to get ahead of Congress. Obama 2.0 appears ready to go head-to-head with Democrats who have the numbers to lead but lack the discipline, and Republicans whose only big idea is to make Democrats fail — a job that has turned out to be pretty easy so far.

After a year of hope, 2010 is starting out with proponents of action on climate change facing an uphill battle.

In 2009, a new president moved into the White House, Congress inched toward passing a bill to cap U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and the Copenhagen climate summit waited as a hopeful coda to a year of climate action. It ended up being a year of mixed results, however, and the prospects for climate action this year appear equally mixed.

Congress gets back into full swing next week, and several senators have made assurances that climate change will be one of the first issues they discuss.

For Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that means a new attempt to block greenhouse gas regulation by the EPA.

With the announcement that a delegation from the Congressional Republican Flat Earth Caucus will show up to embarrass President Obama in Copenhagen next week, I hope the White House finally decides to man up on climate change.

What "manning up" means in the present context is that the Obama administration must get serious about using its regulatory authority to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions well below the levels being considered on Capitol Hill.

So far, Obama has been scrupulous in not “getting out ahead” of Congress on climate change.

Members of Congress took a brief trip back to high school science class Wednesday morning, complete with science experiments, sports analogies, raised voices and a bit of name-calling.

The hearing in Chairman Ed Markey’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was expected to provide an opportunity for two of the administration’s top scientists to defend the climate science that has come under fire since last week's release of e-mails stolen from researchers — and for the Committee’s climate change skeptics to air their accusations.

It did not disappoint.

In the Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, an emperor goes out among his subjects in his underwear. Two swindlers posing as tailors have convinced him he is wearing a suit made from cloth that is invisible to anyone who is stupid. Not wanting to accept that he’s stupid, the emperor parades through his empire believing he is fully dressed.

It now is up to the U.S. Senate to make sure Uncle Sam is not only fully dressed, but dressed for success when he shows up in Copenhagen on Dec. 7 to work on a global climate deal.

As far as wardrobes go, President Obama and his team have done a pretty good job packing their suitcases with climate initiatives that have they have launched under their own authority this year.

Even so, without an affirmative vote by the Senate on a respectable climate bill, Uncle Sam will be only half-dressed in the eyes of the global community.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer gave opponents of climate change legislation, including some in her own party, a “reality check on global warming” this morning.

Look at the Federal Register – the EPA and other federal agencies are already moving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Boxer told a news conference. California will soon have a waiver so it and 17 other states can increase their auto emissions standards. A declaration that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare is coming.

“The days of inaction on climate change have ended,” Boxer said. “Action has begun.”

“My message to my colleagues is, we could sit here and let EPA do it, with the president’s support, we could allow the states and cities and the world to do it, or we can move forward. I believe the thing to do is to move forward.”

The target of her message was clear, and it wasn’t the press.

Months of planning, negotiating, strategizing and training set the stage for the best orchestrated mass-lobby day in climate and youth activism history.

After 350 meetings between student activists and congressional representatives or their aides drew to a close last week, many of us within the movement began to wonder – what exactly did we accomplish?

Did our reps “get it?” What’s going to be the fallout for national climate policy, for the road to Copenhagen, for the role of youth in national energy justice issues?

In a few Capitol Hill offices, we were disappointed to discover, lawmakers and their aides seemed to know very little about even the basic facts of climate change.

There’s an electric current rushing through our nation’s capital today, and it’s not from the future stimulus-funded smart grid.

Right now, more than 11,000 young people from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations are barnstorming Washington, D.C., for Power Shift 2009 – the largest youth summit on climate and energy policy in history.

In the massive D.C. Convention Center, student organizers are partaking in an extended weekend of workshops, training sessions, speeches, concerts, rallies and even a huge direct action slated for Monday. With big shots showing up like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Congressman Ed Markey, activists Majora Carter, Van Jones and Billy Parish, and musicians like Adam Gardener of Guster and the hip-hop group The Roots, Power Shift feels like a mix between Kyoto and Woodstock.

Students are here, in essence, to take the message of bold, comprehensive and immediate federal climate action directly to Capitol Hill. 

They are leveraging the momentum the youth movement has built locally through the Campus Climate Challenge, their first national mobilization, Power Shift 07, and their recent electoral engagement campaign Power Vote to pressure political leaders to take the action their generation's demands.

“It’s our future,” they proclaim – and they’re going to fight for it.

By Mindy S. Lubber and Kevin Parker

As Congress nears final approval of an economic stimulus package, it should be clear on one point: Major investors want a bold, green plan that will spark clean energy investment and allow America to shape its financial and energy future.

The bottom line is that emerging clean-tech industries such as renewable energy and energy efficiency need the support of economic stimulus and other long-term government policies to thrive in the low-carbon global economy evolving in response to man-made climate change.

Investors need the reassurance that strong market signals from Congress will provide.