A Mere Symbolic Step
On May 31, 2007, at the United States Global Leadership Council, President Bush unveiled his plan to secure an energy-efficient, green future for the United States. The President’s proposal marks a change in the Bush Administration’s stance on climate change. In the past, the President has doubted the validity of climate change data and gone so far as to deny climate change altogether. In recent months, the President has reversed his opinion. In his May speech, he fully embraced the science and reality of climate change and outlined his solution. The President’s plan sketches a skeletal solution to climate change, one devoid of substance and filled with mere words. The President’s plan plays it safe, in fact, too safe. The plan’s reliance on voluntary state cooperation lacks the teeth and mechanisms necessary to make it a truly effective solution.
The President’s proposal optimistically calls upon the international community to set a long-term global goal for reducing GHGs. To address the issue of disparate state goals and values, the President suggests state-tailored energy plans that allow states to reach the global goal in a manner suitable to their circumstances and political priorities. To measure progress toward the global goal, the President’s plan calls for mid-term goals and a transparent measuring system. These proposals are a step in the right direction but they are vague and represent an extremely passive attempt at addressing the issue.
It is well understood that long-term goals for climate change reduction must be formulated, and much international discussion on this topic has taken place. The President’s plan simply reiterates this need and fails to further any of the talk that has occurred over the past decades. The plan to allow each state to develop its own strategy is another reiteration of existing norms and takes us nowhere in terms of GHG reduction. States have traditionally managed their own energy policy. Some have chosen to change their energy policies, other have not. The President’s plan will not alter this.
The transparent measuring system envisioned by the President is the only means of enforcement offered in the plan. A measuring system relies on the fact that states are actually taking actions to meet the goal.
See Student Comment, Page 6
Paris Lumb
Tuesday, August 22 was a beautiful sunny day. Incoming first-year law students – or as those of us in the legal community call them, “1Ls” – were just getting to know Wolf Law. I set up a table in the courtyard to generate interest and offer information about volunteering for EESI. Mariah Zebrowski met me there, and we waited for the 1Ls to arrive, having no idea what to expect.
To our great and pleasant surprise, we were swarmed with enthusiastic 1Ls who were truly interested in getting involved with EESI. For over an hour, Mariah and I worked our way through a long line of eager students, answering their questions and giving them more information about how they could get involved. Over 40 students signed up to learn more about EESI, including students who indicated that the presence of EESI on the CU Law campus was a deciding factor in where to attend law school. Many of these students had already spent time exploring the EESI website. Needless to say, we were thrilled.
Following the orientation recruitment, EESI held an informational meeting on Thursday, August 30 for students interested in applying to volunteer. Our project managers gave impressive presentations about their respective projects so that the 1Ls could learn more about what we do and determine where their preferences lay. Within a matter of hours, applications began rolling in.
By the deadline on Monday night, we had a hefty stack of applications to read (electronically, of course, to save paper!). Rather than being an onerous task, however, reading this abundance of material proved to be an enlivening pursuit. The students outlined in these resumes, letters of interest, and writing samples were outstanding candidates with great backgrounds and enthusiasm for issues relevant to EESI.
See 1Ls, Page 5
October 2007: Issue Three: Page 2
