Save the Economy, Save the Planet

A new politics of climate change for recessionary times.
By Eric Pooley Posted Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - 2:19pm

Even before the financial markets fell into cardiac arrest and Dr. Paulson prescribed his $700-billion adrenaline shot, the economic crisis had become the only issue that really mattered in the presidential election. Sure, the McCain camp was talking about some other crucial stuff—sex education for kindergartners, porcine cosmetology—but Iraq, health care, and especially climate change were and still are lost in the economic glare. That's understandable, but for Americans who began the year feeling hopeful that climate action was finally becoming inevitable, it has been a sobering summer. And now there's fear that a deep recession could drive global warming off the next president's agenda altogether.

The evidence of impending climate catastrophe keeps piling up, and both candidates support a declining cap on greenhouse-gas emissions. Yet they rarely find time to talk about it. (Each gave the subject a polite nod during the Clinton Global Initiative.) Obama and McCain know that at this moment of deep economic distress, warnings about future climate impacts aren't going to help them carry Ohio. That much has been clear since June, when $4-a-gallon gasoline helped snuff the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act and the nation's hopes and dreams began shifting from save the planet to "drill, baby, drill." Opponents of Lieberman-Warner claimed it would jack up energy costs, throw people out of work, and kill the U.S. economy; supporters responded that its impact wouldn't be that bad. Not that bad is not that good a strategy, and green leaders realized then that if they were ever going to break the political logjam, they had to drive home a more optimistic economic message.

Today, that message is coming into focus, and what looked like obstacles to climate action in June may soon be seen as opportunities. Hard times didn't stop Reps. John Dingell and Rick Boucher from releasing a long-awaited climate bill this week, and hard times could actually help propel the climate debate next year, because the steps needed to deal with global warming can also help deal with America's shaky economy and dependence on foreign oil—and even raise money for jobs and infrastructure. Obama's climate adviser, Jason Grumet, mused about the possibilities at an energy conference held recently at Harvard. "To the extent that climate change [legislation] is the next big American stimulus package," he said, "that brings forward a different kind of dialogue."