Now Let’s Get to Work, Starting with the House Stimulus Package
- Frances Beinecke
- President of NRDC, New York City
- Blog | About
- Posted January 22, 2009 in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy
I had the good fortune of being in Washington for the inauguration. It was an amazing day, when I felt every one of the 2 million people in attendance was committed to a new future for America. Cheers surrounded me when Obama referred to clean energy from wind and solar. And as I watched Marine 1 carry Former President Bush out of town, I knew a new day had come for everyone who cares about the health of the Earth.
Now the work begins. And there is a tremendous amount.
Over the past few months, my NRDC colleagues and I have had the opportunity to share our recommendations with President Obama's team. NRDC was involved in the Clinton transition too, but it is different this time around. Environmental issues are a much higher priority on Obama's list, and NRDC is a more mature organization.
We have already participated in a host of meetings with members of the transition team on virtually all of our issues. And the impression I come away with each time is that this administration is extremely well prepared.
Still, it will take more than preparation to tackle the long list of challenges awaiting the new administration. It's a tough climate for progress in any arena, never mind what the new White House homepage says are Obama's top priorities: the economy, energy, and the environment.
President Obama can start moving his agenda forward right away by strengthening and supporting the House economic stimulus package announced last week.
The plan is not perfect. It is not as green as we would like it to be, especially in terms of public transit (see NRDC transportation expert Deron Lovaas' response here). But it does include more funding for green initiatives than we have seen in years. Clean energy solutions like smart grids, weatherizing homes, and renewable power sit at the centerpiece of a national stimulus bill for the first time ever. The package also includes the green job corps proposed by Van Jones and Green for All. This visionary program could be the Teach for America for a new generation.
The evening the House plan was released, I went to Union Station and caught a train bound for New York City. Who should I see onboard by "Amtrak Joe" Biden making his famous public-transit commute home to Delaware.
Biden won't be riding the rails as often as he used to, but I hope he and Obama encourage the House to include more transit funding in it stimulus package. Together with the other green incentives in the plan, that would go a long way toward creating the green jobs and the clean energy solutions the new administration has promised.
There will be other opportunities for the Congress and the administration to link economic recovery and green energy in the coming months. We will soon see an energy bill, transportation bill, and most importantly, a global warming bill. Last week, at his first hearing as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman said he wants a climate bill reported out of committee by Memorial Day.
That is a demanding timeline, but rapid action is what we need when it comes to global warming. With continued support--and pressure--from the Obama administration, we can meet that deadline, and hopefully enact a national plan for curbing global warming by the end of the year.
None of this will be easy, but it a relief to find willing partners in the White House. In the time I have spent in Washington this past week, I have noticed that in the midst of all the euphoria, Obama's team is already rolling up their sleeves and starting the work.
We are ready too.
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Comments
Dave Reid — Jan 22 2009 04:37 PM
And just because Obama won doesn't mean any of us can let up.. Now groups like the NRDC, CNU and others need to keep the pressure on to help move us forward. So thanks and keep up the good work!
Professor Reid Friedson — Jan 24 2009 12:06 PM
OBAMA’S GREEN NEW DEAL & MOTHER NATURE
Reid Friedson, M.A.*
You can’t fool Mother Nature. You can’t abuse or terrorize her, and you can’t buy her off and get away with not taking care of Her. Mother Nature requires love and respect or the whole bio-diverse global family suffers.
In America, we stand on the cusp of our New Green Age trying to figure out what really placed our Garden on the verge of economic meltdown. Now, we wonder what actions the inspiring President Obama will take to renew and grow American hope.
America has not yet learned the lesson of conservation. FDR, a fearless Democratic father figure, created his New Deal in the Thirties and restored America’s faith in government and economy as fascism, communism, socialism, and democracy battled for world dominance.
People did not know how to label’s FDR’s New Deal. Many are just as confused about President Obama. Like Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy; Obama has selected an ideologically diverse Cabinet for Congressional approval.
President Obama chooses what works over ideology. Like JFK, he selected “the best and brightest.” Many of Obama’s Cabinet selections are leading academic scholars and veteran policy-makers from the Clinton Administration. Echoing famed Depression-era economist Keynes, Obama’s economic team has wisely advised him to create at least 3.5 million jobs to “prime the pump.” This is the largest American jobs creation plan since FDR’s New Deal put Americans back to work in the Thirties.
The U.S. Green Building Council reports millions of Americans can be put to work on innovative green public works projects. Even Republicans are acquiescing to more of a planned regulated economy. The “invisible hand” of capitalism needs a helping hand.
Training and workforce development, like President Kennedy instituted in recession, will re-vitalize management and labor. Creative cross-disciplinary green thinkers who connect government, non-governmental organizations, corporations, and labor are needed in public administration.
Obama’s green jobs plan for the middle class, poor, and unemployed will reform America’s infrastructure, health care, education, energy, and trade. Obama will, for example, expand and improve public roads, public transit, and bridges. He will increase the number of eco-friendly jobs at home and intensify America’s commercial efficiency.
In America, we can and must stop the approaching global depression before it erupts into a third world war. We can and must revitalize the American government’s role in harnessing the natural energy concealed in our economy just as quantum physics unleashed what lay beneath the atom.
We can and must put compassionate community over selfish greed. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will surely perish together as fools.” It is imperative the world conserve, re-fuel, transform, and re-connect through the Green Movement.
As the ancient people of the Earth taught, we evolve by protecting all flora, fauna, and beings or we manifest our own destruction. President Obama plans to start a Green New Deal here in America. How will Obama’s plan work?
To save energy, Obama’s Green New Deal will promote the use of public transit, bicycles, and walking. Obama will tap an unprecedented new media based grass roots organizational structure. Change has come.
Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary designate Steven Chu will lead the Obama Administration’s public interest energy research and development effort. The Obama-Biden Energy Plan will invest more than $775 million over ten [10] years in clean energies. That’s nearly the amount allocated by the Bush Administration and Congress to the nation’s largest banks, creditors, and auto manufacturers in just the crisis-laden last quarter of 2008.
President Obama is aware millions of energy jobs as well as a clean, disciplined, compassionate lifestyle will guide American and global transformation. Moving to new, alternative energy sources like ethanol will decrease the demand for and the political power of oil tyrants. Petrol addiction and pollution must stop if we are to thrive. Following the golden conservation mean must be our mantra.
Obama supported the Clean Energy Act of 2007. This Congressional act raised fuel-efficiency standards, established energy-efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings, and promoted renewable fuels.
Obama plans financial incentives for utility companies and businesses that reduce carbon emissions. Cutting such emissions will slow global warming and Obama plans to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
For the Obama Adminstration, Carol Browner will target harmful climate change. The Environmental Defense Fund and New Left applaud Browner’s nomination. She, and the EPA, will reduce carbon and toxic emissions by employing workers in newly rising green industries.
Online newspaper Politico cites criticism of new EPA chief Lisa Jackson. Jackson faces allegations of too much support for industry and not doing enough to stop toxic waste. Conversely, Obama’s pick for Interior Secretary, Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, has been a staunch protector of national parks, public lands, water, and natural resources.
The League of Conservation Voters gives Obama himself an 86% lifetime score. Obama will weatherize one million low income homes a year to decrease energy usage and lower energy prices. He proposes federal grants for states and locales that revise building codes and “retro-fit” buildings for energy efficiency. He will reward utility companies that help families and businesses save money on energy bills. Obama will expand renewable solar, wind, and geo-thermal energies.
In 2009, Obama will create green jobs to protect Mother Nature from further abuse. He will promote energy efficient commercial development while expanding jobs, technology, and innovation in what Thomas L. Friedman called the new flat world.
Obama’s Green New Deal should put Americans to work saving Mother Nature, the inter-connected world economy, and America from depression and world war.
24 January 2009
*Professor Reid Friedson recently served as an organizer and advocate to the Progressive Future and Obama for America ’08. He registered over four hundred [400] voters in Florida for President-elect Obama.