Are we “greener” than we were four years ago?
Yes, we are, and Barack Obama deserves a lot of the credit.
Despite strident anti-environmental opponents on Capitol Hill,
President Obama has managed to use the power of his office – deployed primarily
through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of
Energy, and the U.S. Department of the Interior – to make our air and water
cleaner, to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, to protect our public lands,
and to attack the climate change that causes extreme weather events like
Hurricane Sandy.
Is his job done? Not by a long shot. But are we making
progress? Definitely. I’m supporting the President for a second term because
I think he offers our best hope in this election to continue to make progress
in the future.
This all became extremely clear to me earlier this week, as
Hurricane Sandy was ripping away part of my roof. While I huddled in my
basement listening to the terrifying wind and the torrential rain, I found
myself getting mad, not just about what it would cost me to repair the damage,
but about the reasons behind this catastrophic storm. Meteorologists,
scientists, environmentalists, public health professionals, concerned citizens,
and yes, President Obama, have all made the link between burning fossil fuels
like coal and oil and extreme weather events like Sandy, let alone Hurricane
Katrina and many others. And they’ve tried to throw the weight of their various
offices behind solutions that would help wean us from fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, conservative forces in Congress and many state houses around the country have blocked legislation that would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and opposed efforts to increase energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Bolstered by their conservative colleagues on Capitol Hill and pressured by Tea Party activists, Republican challenger Mitt
Romney and Paul Ryan, his running mate, have dismissed climate change, have
literally said they “love” coal, and would strive to cripple the EPA if they
were elected to office.
Maybe to some people, this is just “talk.” But as someone who
has worked in Washington, D.C. to promote environmental protection during the
Carter years, the Reagan years, the Bush 1 years, the Clinton years, the Bush 2
years, and now the last four years of the Obama Administration, I can say, and
say unequivocally, that environmental policy consistently fares worse under
Republican administrations than under Democratic ones. As Sandy has shown, the planet very much faces a climate change tipping point. Obama is on one side, Romney on the other. For me, siding with Obama is a no brainer.
Has Obama accomplished nearly enough? No.
Do I wish more change had happened? Of course.
But we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
