Greenpeace climbers rappel down the face of Mount Rushmore in 2009 to unfurl a banner challenging President Obama to lead on global warming.
When EPA chiefs from the most conservative administrations in US history write a joint op-ed in the New York Times calling for swift action on climate change, the national narrative on the issue reaches a new level of “must do something now.”
Four former EPA chiefs from the Nixon, Reagan and both Bush administrations warned about the danger of climate inaction in the Timesopinion editorial section yesterday.
William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K. Reilly, and Christine Todd Whitman acknowledge that influence of a market-based approach to solving climate change, but emphasize that Congress and the President must initiate collective federal plan.
“Climate change puts all our progress and our successes at risk. If we could articulate one framework for successful governance, perhaps it should be this: When confronted by a problem, deal with it. Look at the facts, cut through the extraneous, devise a workable solution and get it done.”
