2007.01.29: January 29, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: NGO's: Environment: World Resources Institute: Jonathon Lash writes: President George W. Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address to the nation and never mentioned climate change once
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Dominican Republic:
Special Report: Jonathon Lash, President of the World Resources Institute:
2007.01.29: January 29, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: NGO's: Environment: World Resources Institute: Jonathon Lash writes: President George W. Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address to the nation and never mentioned climate change once
Jonathon Lash writes: President George W. Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address to the nation and never mentioned climate change once
"His speech called for increasing "the supply of alternative fuels," not "renewable fuels." Alternative fuels could include technologies like coal liquefaction, which might decrease our dependence on foreign oil but would roughly double our CO2 emissions. It is true that the CO2 from the energy-intensive process of making coal into a liquid may one day be captured and injected underground, but the government would have to require and subsidize that process, which the President did not propose." Jonathon Lash, President of the World Resources Institute, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Jonathon Lash writes: President George W. Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address to the nation and never mentioned climate change once
Jonathan Lash Responds to the 2007 "State of the Union" Address
A serious challenge deserves a serious response.
January 29, 2007
By Jonathan Lash
On Tuesday, President George W. Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address to the nation. The President spent three minutes and thirty-seven seconds on energy policy. He mentioned climate change once.
It was good to hear the President say that global climate change is a "serious challenge." At last.
A serious challenge deserves a serious response. We did not get one.
The President focused on "energy independence," proposing measures that could help reduce global warming pollution, but probably won't: I'll come back to this. To put the measures in perspective: even if everything he proposed works out in the best possible way, the President's plan would make only modest reductions in emissions from road transportation. Road transportation accounts for only 22 percent of total U.S. global warming emissions. He made no proposal to address the other 78 percent.
Ironically, the day before the President's speech, I was privileged to join three of my environmental colleagues and the CEOs of Alcoa, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, Florida Power and Light, GE, Lehman Brothers, PG&E and PNM Resources at the National Press Club to announce our joint call to action on climate change, a set of policies that would achieve 60-80 percent reductions in all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It was a remarkable moment: a set of corporate leaders showing real vision and courage, and actually asking to be regulated. I wish we had seen the same kind of vision from the President the following day.
The President set a goal of a 20 percent reduction in projected U.S. gasoline use by 2017. Since U.S. gasoline consumption is projected to grow by almost 20 percent by then, achieving the goal would mean only a small increase instead of a big increase. Better than nothing? Well, maybe, but wait, the President's proposal includes a "safety valve" so that if grain or gasoline prices go up too much (it's not clear how much), the government can relax its goal. Would you invest in new technology based on that promise?
From a climate perspective, the proposal looks even worse when you read carefully. His speech called for increasing "the supply of alternative fuels," not "renewable fuels." Alternative fuels could include technologies like coal liquefaction, which might decrease our dependence on foreign oil but would roughly double our CO2 emissions. It is true that the CO2 from the energy-intensive process of making coal into a liquid may one day be captured and injected underground, but the government would have to require and subsidize that process, which the President did not propose.
The President's best idea was to tighten automobile fuel economy standards: one of the fastest and cheapest ways to reduce global warming pollution and promote energy independence. It is something that we should have done years ago. It would have helped U.S. auto companies who are losing the technology, fuel economy, and market share competition with Toyota and Honda. Just yesterday, Ford Motor Company announced that 2006 was its worst year ever -- it lost almost $2,000 for every car and truck it sold -- largely due to slumping demand for gas-guzzling SUVs. Currently, overall U.S. fuel economy is about 26 miles per gallon (mpg). China's is 35 mpg. Japan's is 45 mpg. The President proposed to increase U.S. fuel efficiency standards to 35 mpg in 10 years. My Prius does better than that today. Isn't climate and energy independence important enough to push manufacturers to do better than that in a decade?
That brings me back to the CEOs' recommendations and the reasons why they are calling for action. They want a policy road map that helps them decide how to invest in technologies to compete in tomorrow's markets. Tomorrow's markets will be carbon constrained because we can't go on spewing more and more CO2 into the atmosphere.
The President has been touting American ingenuity. Yet his proposal is too narrow to build a safe climate in unison with a sound economic future. The longer we wait to reduce emissions, the harder and more expensive it gets to stop global warming, and the harder it is for U.S. industry to compete to provide solutions. We need a plan with vision to promote actions that will spur economic growth in the future and take real steps to combat climate change. It is the greatest crisis of this era.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: January, 2007; RPCV Jonathon Lash (Dominican Republic); Figures; Peace Corps Dominican Republic; Directory of Dominican Republic RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Dominican Republic RPCVs; NGO's; Environment
When this story was posted in February 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan On his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future. |
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
| Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
| The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
| PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: World Resources Institute
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Dominican Republic; NGO's; Environment
PCOL36154
42