I have a smart friend who could have her own career
as a political writer, were she not pursuing a PhD in another field.
Earlier this week, she observed:
“So… that joint press conference with the Presidents
of the U.S. and China at the [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
meeting] was sort of a big deal.
If I were in charge of an oil or natural gas
company, and I had not yet read the writing on the wall and made the
switch to investing less in oil and more in renewable…I’d be freaking
out right now. I’d be up all night trying to figure out how to divest
from carbon-based energy sources and move to renewables ASAP.”
Her assessment of the summit echoes that of a highly credible source, New York Times Nobel Prize-winning economist and Op-Ed contributor Paul Krugman. In a piece published this week, entitled “China, Coal, Climate,”
the celebrated thought leader writes, “It’s easy to be cynical about
summit meetings. Often they’re just photo op… At best — almost always —
they’re just occasions to formally announce agreements already worked
out by lower-level officials. Once in a while, however, something really
important emerges. And this is one of those times.”
Pundits and lay people alike seem to agree that
while we shouldn’t expect an overnight turnaround in global energy
policy, the oil and coal syndicate which controls the repugican cabal,
and to a great extent, the conversation about America’s non-approach to
climate change, is on notice. Just one little public display requires a
shift from the world’s oligarchs from offense to defense. For the first
time since the Carter administration, us “tree hugging hippies” have
reason to hope that humanity’s high-speed chase toward Earth’s
destruction might be derailed.
Baby steps will be taken, but taken they will be. No
matter how vague the language or undefined the qualitative steps
forward, as Krugman notes, “we have it straight from the source: China
has declared its intention to limit carbon emissions.”
Although there is clearly more at stake here than
politics, a move like this can fast track the seismic cultural shift
Americans are currently experiencing with other issues such as marriage
equality or recreational marijuana legalization. As little as 10 days
ago, when less than half of the electorate limped to the ballot box to
vote red in the midterm elections, the specter of evolution (pun
intended) seemed wildly impossible. Headlines such as this followed repugican cabal theft almost immediately: The repugicans Vow to Fight E.P.A. and Approve Keystone Pipeline.
The cabal of scientific repudiation announced that infamous climate
change denier James Inhofe of Oklahoma will lead the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee. The situation looked bleak.
“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel…” impotent.
Of course we’ll have to be patient and assess
China’s follow through against its stated intentions. After all, not
much time has passed since Hong Kong rebelled against the mainland’s revocation of promised free, fair and independent elections.
And it’s not as though the United States has a blemish-free track
records for the alignment of words and actions (a slavery infected “Land
of the Free” comes to mind). But perhaps in the perverse way situations
like this sometimes play out, China and America will keep each other
honest. Neither country is a fan of being publicly embarrassed by the
other. If the protection of a nation’s sociopolitical reputation is a
motivator in upending decades of cynical energy policy, I’ll suppress a
wish for better human impulses and concur with Krugman. It’s another
long-term setback for the repugican agenda and “a good week for the
planet.”
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