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The last two decades have witnessed an ever growing partisan divide in US politics over climate change and global warming. Significant elements in the Republican Party became openly hostile to the scientific evidence and, following the election of George W. Bush, legislative action at the federal level effectively ground to a halt. This opened up space at the state and local level to develop climate change policies with cities such as Chicago, San Francisco and New York implementing a number of initiatives that brought real and substantive developments. The election of Barack Obama in 2008 seemed to open new possibilities for federal and global leadership once more and whilst the Obama administration has been criticised for a somewhat contradictory approach to the issue at times, there were nonetheless a number of substantive policy developments. Through a substantive and detailed analysis of the politics of climate change, this book places the evolution of US climate policy within broader debates on the nature of politics in the US and argues that there exists a latent potential, often obscured by the complexities of its political system, for America to act as a world leader on the issue. This work will appeal particularly to students and scholars in American Politics, but will also prove useful to those in the fields of general Politics, climate change, sustainability, and environmental studies.
In 2009 the US House of Representatives passed legislation requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent over the coming decade. Later that year, President Obama went to Copenhagen to sign a treaty requiring reductions by 50 percent over a two-decade period. The President came back with nothing: no firm commitment to reduce emissions and only a vague target to hold global temperature rises to under 2 C. How does a President who has a 75-vote majority in the House and a 19-vote majority in the Senate who has pre-approval for a treaty reducing greenhouse gas production by 18 percent not achieve a treaty with at least the minimum goal of 18 percent reductions by 2020?Others have answered the puzzle by looking at institutional designs or negotiation dynamics. This book articulates a multilevel process that starts with local politics to explain how they can influence international negotiations and why President Obama s efforts in Copenhagen were doomed to fail. Understanding the role of local private interests can help form strategies for overcoming national resistance to climate change legislation and ultimately international agreements that could change the environmentally self-destructive course we are on.
Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - Environmental Policy, grade: 1,0, Munich University of Policy, course: President Obama is going green. Will the U.S. follow?, language: English, abstract: Since President Barack Obama is in office, it seems that environmental policy became an important value in the U.S.-politics. After his election in 2008 — he promised “change” in his campaign — many things truly changed. Since President Georg W. Bush did not care too much for the environmental policy, his successors in office have a lot of work to do. For instance, Obama has to reduce the CO2-emissions and to support renewable energy projects like solar energy electric power stations to keep up with the rest of the world. However, most of the time, President Obama had to deal with threatening and tough topics as unemployment, health insurance and worldwide terrorism—in his first term as well as in his second one. This term paper deals with Obama's second term and analyses the steps taken in the environmental politics since his re-election. As an introduction, we will have a closer look at the problems in the U.S.-politics since 2012
Despite other presidents who preceded President Obama and who responded somewhat to global climate change, environmentalists look to Barack Obama as a president who might make a real difference regarding global warming. This was particularly so given Obama's campaign statement that this would be a number one priority of his once in office. In this study we compared Barack Obama's first year efforts in responding to global warming with those of George W. Bush, his immediate predecessor, in his first year. To do so we assessed each president in terms of political communication, legislative leadership, administrative actions, and environmental diplomacy. We found a marked difference in political rhetoric between the two with Bush being much more willing to mislead the public regarding climate change, whereas Obama was much more likely to argue that change was needed due to the threat posed by increasing greenhouse gases particularly during the first few months in office.The presidents' relationship with the Congress was also very different that first year with Bush having a very supportive Republican Congress supporting his lack of desire to do much regarding the environment, while Obama, who also had a Democratic-majority in Congress, nevertheless faced a skeptical Congress when it came to his desire to see cap-and-trade legislation that would regulate climate change emissions. Despite Obama's declaration during his campaign that global climate change would be an a number one priority on his agenda, economic hard times, the wars abroad, severe partisanship, an unsupportive public, and an unwillingness to aggressively engage the Congress on this issue have taken their toll on the president shifting climate change from that priority position.
This overview of global warming and its human causes examines the international agreements regarding climate change and the U.S. response to those agreements, as well as key provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, to explain the difficulties of any subsequent treaties. Framing the scientific debate against moral, ethical, and religious considerations, the book offers potential solutions. The book includes seven maps and tables, notes, bibliography, and index.
The United States is often perceived as sceptical, if not hostile, to the need to address man-made climate change. US government policy has undoubtedly disappointed environmentalists and scientists who believe more concerted action is needed, but a careful examination of the evidence reveals a number of policy actions designed to investigate, mitigate, and adapt to climate change have been implemented. Laws, regulatory action, and court rulings have led to advances in climate science, action to reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions and efforts to prepare for the potential consequences of climate change. In this important book Chris Bailey explains and details the challenges and achievements of US climate change policy from its origins to the present day.
This collection of primary sources, illuminated by extensive contextual analysis, provides a comprehensive and balanced survey of the evolution of global climate change policies and politics in the United States. This extensive collection of primary documents examines the history of climate science; various policy prescriptions for addressing the effects of climate change; political fault lines with respect to international efforts to address global warming; claims regarding the influence of industry groups and environmental "radicals" on climate policy and science; and the impact of climate change on other policy areas such as public health, energy, economic development, and wilderness conservation. The set includes excerpts from important scientific papers and government reports, political speeches from presidents and other influential lawmakers, perspectives from environmental activists and conservative think-tanks, editorial essays from leading media figures, provisions of major laws, and more. Together, these documents provide a broad range of perspectives, from scientific fields as well as from political and ideological standpoints that have emerged in response to the debate surrounding climate change. They offer readers a greater understanding of the arguments not only of lawmakers, activists, and scientists leading efforts to fight, mitigate, and adapt to climate change but also of those skeptical of climate change.
Argues that President Barack Obama and his administration want to take critical decisions about the United States's energy and environment out of the hands of American citizens and hand them over to politicians, extreme environmental groups and foreign governments.
In this timely retrospective, leading voices from The Washington Post come together to discuss Barack Obama’s historic presidency. When President Obama was elected, he was a figure of hope for many Americans. Throughout his presidency, he has become far more than a symbol of change; he has enacted countless programs and policies that have made an impact on the country. As his term comes to an end, we look back on what has defined Obama as an American leader. Providing insight into everything from his politics to his family, this collection of articles examines the highlights of the Obama administration. The award-winning journalists at The Washington Post have brought together stories from the last eight years to commemorate the indelible mark our most recent president has made on the United States. Featuring over a hundred historic photos and articles from eight Pulitzer Prize winners, Obama’s Legacy is the perfect way to close out the first family’s years in the White House.
Changing our environmental policy has been at the forefront of many political discussions. But how can we make this change come about? In American Politics and the Environment, Second Edition, Byron W. Daynes, Glen Sussman and Jonathan P. West argue it is critical that we must understand the politics of environmental decision making and how political actors operate within political institutions. Blending behavioral and institutional approaches, each chapter combines discussion of an institution along with sidebars focusing on a particular environmental topic as well as a personal profile of a key decision maker. A central focus of this second edition is the emergence of global climate change as a key issue. Although the scientific community can provide research findings to policy makers, politics can create conflicts, tensions, and delays in the crafting of effective and necessary environmental policy responses. Daynes, Sussman, and West help us understand the role of politics in the policy making process and why institutional players such as the president, Congress, and interest groups succeed or fail in responding to important environmental challenges. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to Knowledge Unlatched—an initiative that provides libraries and institutions with a centralized platform to support OA collections and from leading publishing houses and OA initiatives. Learn more at the Knowledge Unlatched website at: https://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/, and access the book online at the SUNY Open Access Repository at http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/7128.