What Should President-Elect Obama’s First Sustainable Act Be?
It’s been unusually quiet here on Sustainablog the past few days. I assume everyone was gearing up for yesterday. Perhaps we were all reading up on the issues we’d be voting for in our individual states. Perhaps we were out canvasing our neighborhoods, encouraging people to vote. Or, perhaps we were simply biting our nails in anticipation of yesterday instead of writing. But yesterday is over, and our country has a new president-elect, Barack Obama.
Congratulations, Senator Obama. You and your family have much to celebrate today. Your victory is historic and symbolic, but more importantly it is real. You will be President of the United States of America. You will be “the most powerful man in the world,” and the eyes of the world are on you. We’ll be looking for those changes you promised. Specifically around this blog, we’ll be looking for the changes you make in the environment.
- » See also: The Danger of Staring too Close at 350
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So readers, I’m asking you, what should the new president do first to improve our environment? What do you want to see him tackle? If I had to guess, I would say that the majority of people who read this blog voted for Barack Obama yesterday. I could be wrong, but I’m probably not. What is it going to take, environmentally, for you to think your vote was well-placed? For those who didn’t vote for him, what could he do, environmentally, that would please you?
Image courtesy of transplanted mountaineer on flickr.
1. A national Renewable Portfolio Standard including solar carve-out and significant compliance payments for not meeting the standard
2. An enforceable, significant price on carbon
Congrats from France. Very pleased to see that things are going to change with Obama.
Hope that your new President will take in account the good “things” we have already done in Europe especially decisions we took to address climate change and GES emissions.
For instance: introduce a global carbon market, and ratify Kyoto protocol.
Congrats again, and as you said, this election is historic, for USA and for the World.
The originalgardener
Quit subsidizing the auto industry and the oil industry. Let the chips fall where they may. Geology dictates that we must live a lower energy future, so we need to start dismantling our high energy auto-centric culture.
He should first rebuke his Kenyan family members for the merciless slaughter of the animals that they used to celebrate their favorite son’s victory. Of course, the production of a valid birth certificate would negate the need to distance himself from those atrocities. Just kidding…
Personally, I see P.E.B.H.O. as the Second Coming of Jimmy Carter, not any sort of messiah. The parallels are striking and I fully expect the results to be just as abysmal. Since “the majority of people who read this blog” have never heard of The Misery Index, they should open a history book to see what’s coming. I just HOPE that I have a little CHANGE in my pockets when it’s all over.
Wow - many of you don’t even need a moment to think about it. Post has been up just about an hour and lots of ideas already.
Keep the ideas coming.
End ALL subsidies and tax carbon and pollution externalities.
A responsible agriculture policy geared toward energy efficiency, consumer health and ending the cruelty of factory farms.
I’d like to see him quickly start a Civilian Energy Conservation Corps, similar to FDR’s CCC, that would put people back to work, insulating houses, installing better windows, and working on our energy infrastructure.
Huckleberry
Year One: Clean Up Washington
Make the dems/reps pass legitamate laws across the board to satisfy us all.
Year Two: Strengthen Our Alliance
Since we are trying to go green, eco-friendly, etc other countries that depend on our current cash flow will be upset and take there lack of prosperity out on weaker countries causing us to reaffirm our global military prominence.
Year Three: Tax Revitalization
In other words, we are in a recession, another form of the Great Depression, just more technology, politics, economy is on the table for redevelopment. The New Deal got us out of depression, what going to get us out of recession.
Year Four: Prep for 2nd Term
Now president in our history has ever came in and made a dominate effect during their first term. Simply because they spent the majority of their time correcting or polishing up the previous president’s plans of action.
I have to agree with Bobby in discounting the widespread view that Obama is some savior figure in American (or world) politics. I look forward with relish to his administration, though I did not vote for him, and hope he can really implement some change on all levels–from environment to politics to economics.
I think the first priority has to be revising the American energy policy. Taking an approach of improving the support and availability of many different types seems to me most logical–so that we can have different “wedges” in the pie-graph of resource usage contributing to the overall sustainability of how we consume power.