In just the last twenty four hours (incidentally, the time I was in an airplane en route to Copenhagen), there’s been renewed activity on the US climate policy front.
Yesterday, along with our partners at the Center for Biological Diversity, we petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin regulating Carbon Dioxide, and to set the cap to 350 ppm. This would mean that the existing US Clean Air Act could be used as an instrument to begin ratcheting down the level of Carbon in our atmosphere–what we’ve been talking about for years. If you’d like to learn more about this effort, check out what CBD has written up.
Then, this morning, Senator Kerry introduced a bill designed to put some wind in the sails of the US negotiating team here in Copenhagen, articulating some principles with which to approach the negotiations. Some of these include a commitment to supporting developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, as well as re-affirming the US interest in very tangible efforts at measuring emissions reductions in developing countries.
We’ll be keeping you up to date as to developments here in Copenhagen, but as we’ve said before, the US continues to be a very major player, and the more pressure people in the US exert on our leaders, the better. As of now, there are vigils planned in front of Senate offices in more than 40 states, as an effort to show that we’re counting on the US Senate re-engaging with the rest of the world to tackle climate change. These vigils are intended to show how serious we all are about what happens here at Copenhagen. They are a sign of hope in action.