Copenhagen Summit - Promising Signs!

I have to admit to being a Copenhagen Summit pessimist. Although I've always thought that it was vitally important to achieve international agreement on some agressive target to curb global warming soonest, it has seemed increasingly likely lately that no such bold agreeement is on the cards. I thought Obama had a moral obligation to attend the summit, and for his administration to commit to the strongest deal they could get, but I was fairly unsurprised when I head that Obama would make a fairly low-key stop in Copenhagen in the first week of the Conference.

So imagine my pleasant surprise to learn that Obama has now rescheduled his Copenhagen trip to attend the end of the Summit, when 80 other world leaders will be present. Rumours are that this change of plans is a reaction to the better-than expected deals being struck with critical but hard to persuade big polluters such as China and India.

If he’s willing to stick his neck out like this, Obama must be pretty confident that he can get a deal. There have been signs of momentum for weeks now. The much-discussed deal with China was just one in a raft of commitments from the developing countries, including India and Brazil. Movement from the developing world has undercut one of U.S. conservatives’ principal arguments for inaction. Over 65 world leaders have pledged to attend.

Do we have a global consensus after all? Now THAT'S change I could believe in...

The Way I Live Now...

Every once in a while I watch something like this cool video on urban design...



And I get insufferably smug. Because, yes - this is how I live. In a small row house in a cozy part of East London, with shops, restaurants, schools, libraries, postal services and fitness facilities all an easy walk away. Plus, when I do feel like getting out of the area I've got the Underground, frequent buses, and overground trains all in easy reach. I haven't owned a car since High School and, although it's not for everyone, I really don't feel like this lifestyle in any way a hardship that I endure as some sort of self-sacrificing environmental penance. I like it. It's pretty low stress (I love that I never have to worry about parking), safe (motor vehicle accidents are the 3rd most likely cause of death for folks my age), and healthier (I do a lot of walking).

I grew up on a cul-de-sac. It was nice there, but I'd never go back to it.

Obama Secures Impressive Agreement on Emissions Limits

"'This is a very big deal,' said Daniel Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, who has pushed for tougher mileage and emissions standards for two decades with the goal of curbing the gases that have been linked to global warming. 'This is the single biggest step the American government has ever taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.'"

This agreement, in truth, has been long overdue. The car industry realised some time ago that higher emissions standards were inevitable - although they still tried to block them where they could. Once they'd accepted that basic fact, the biggest concern was then the possibility of widely varied state standards. In short - if you design a car that complies beautifully with the California standard, but then release it in the same month that New York announces a new, higher standard that's not good for business. Fair enough.

So the negotiation position for all sides was actually pretty obvious - the industry accepts the California standard as a national standard. That way they know for sure what they're going to have to work towards. Meanwhile, California gets the higher standard it was looking for and brings the rest of the country along with it. Win win - and without disparaging the incredibly hard work and delicate negotiations that I'm sure went into this - also a pretty easy win.

You just need a politician who is prepared to take it.

Now, it's worth saying - this only gets us about halfway there. In addition to people driving better cars, ideally it would be great if they drove them less often. So I would love to see more done to encourage other forms of transport (hurray Supertrains! Yes I have a bit of a thing about this...) and to discourage driving.

But for now, this is a really good day's work. Well done all!

100 Days, 100 Successes

Here's a very detailed, informative and informed round up of Obama's achievements in the firs 100 days. Here's a snippet...

Policy Change Successes

For those who say that the two parties are the same, here are a number of policy breaks between the new Obama administration and the old Bush administration. You can see that there are a lot of differences between these two presidents and their parties. I hope you’re reading this, Ralph Nader.

42 Freedom of Information Act - Barack Obama made America a more open society by changing government procedures under the Freedom of Information Act during his first days in office.

43 Signed the Ledbetter Law - The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Play Act allows women to better challenge pay discrimination in court. This is for cases when women are institutionally paid less for the same work than their male colleagues. A basic matter of fairness like equal pay for genders is a basic American concept.

44 Department of Transportation Energy Memoranda - President Obama signed a pair of memoranda which ordered the Department of Transportation to set higher fuel standards for the 2011 and future year car models. Not only does this make good scientific and environmental sense, but higher fuel standards allow Detroit cars to make it into more markets worldwide - like China for example - so higher fuel standards make economic sense, too.

45 Reversing the Stem Cell Ban - It’s quite simple: Barack Obama’s reversal of Bush’s stem cell ban is a victory for science. Instead of stem cells being thrown out with the trash, they now can be used to research cures for Alzeihers, Parkinsons and other horrible diseases. That’s a good thing, despite reactionary comments from the Right about stem cell farms and other tactics used to scare good people into immoral positions on the stem cell debate.
46 Funds For College Education - President Obama has offset rising college prices for up to 7,000,000 university students by increasing the funds for Pell Grants and other student aid programs. One overlooked issue is how underfunded the Pell Grants have been the last few years. The next generation needs to be educated to pay off all the debts we’re creating for them.

47 Increased Funding for Public Education - Amid all the posturing about evil federal funds going to states is the fact that many states will have to cut funding and layoff a lot of school personnel without federal funds. Obama provided over $53,000,000,000 to state education agencies and local school districts to help them avoid these layoffs. That’s a good plan for our childrens’ education.

48 Focus on At-Risk Students - The Obama Administration set aside 25 billion dollars to help at-risk students and special needs students. “At risk” means students who have a higher risk of dropping out of school and starting a life of crime. The benefits of keeping these kids in schools, off the streets and out of jail is incalculable, creating a safer community and increasing the talent pool of educated Americans. It also happens to be the moral thing to do.

49 Endangered Species Get a Break - Just this week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rolled back a Bush Administration decision that put endangered species in great danger of dying out. Plus one for our role as stewards of this Earth.

50 Early Head Start Funding for Children - The president’s education package offered over a billion dollars to help fund the “Early Head Start” program, to start children on their way to a better education and a better future.

51 Head Start Funding - Besides funding the Early Head Start, the administration offered a billion dollars to fund the head start programs across the country. These two measures increased head start and early head start services for nearly 120-thousand children and infants.

52 Credit Card Reform - President Obama recently met with executives of the credit card industry in anticipation of a future credit card reform bill. Critics of the current credit card laws have argued that credit card companies are unclear and predatory in their practices, and that laws pushed through by the previous Republican Congresses allow the companies to set up credit traps. The new proposed laws will create regulations that will require transparency and clear stipulations, instead of the “lawyer speak” that is the current practice. Once again, I would say that Obama’s attention to credit card laws indicates he cares about the normal American and this is a worthwhile cause.

53 Funding for Local Health Care Facilities - The Obama Administration also increased funds for community health centers, which means that health centers across the country will be modernized. These funds will also go towards health care research, to make certain the next generation has better health care provided to them than this
generation.

54 Medicaid Money Release - Obama announced in early February that he would release $15 billion to pay medicaid expenses, which gives pharmacies and hospitals relief after waiting months for Medicaid bills to be paid. It also helps businesses of all sizes, who have been required to pay Medicaid expenses, but waiting weeks and months to be reimbursed.

55 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and Medicaid - Let’s get back to the stimulus package. This legislation potentially protects up to 20 million Americans who are at risk of losing their Medicaid or State Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility. We’ll talk about the economic stimulus package in greater detail in a minute.

Department of Good Ideas

Want to stimulate the economy by spending government money? Also concerned that the automobile industry is moribund, and trying to ward off bankrupcy for some of the country's major employers? Meanwhile, are you hoping to find ways of encouraging people to invest in more environmentally friendly items, including cars?

Why not Cash for Clunkers? I like it. Turns out this policy has increased new car sales in Germany by 21% (!) this year - with the simple mechanism of giving people government cash for trading in their old, inefficient cars with newer more energy-efficient models.

Let's hope the UK and the US will latch onto this clever plan.