In Search Of: America's Climate Change Policy (and Responsible Capitalism)

John Kerry is mad. On Sunday, the senator made no bones about his level of exasperation with his colleagues on Capitol Hill regarding the lack of progress in forming some kind of federal policy on climate change. In particular, he was referring to what he called "the flat-earth caucus," according to a DailyClimate.org report by Doug Struck, associate chair of journalism at Emerson College in Boston.[2]

The Massachusetts Democrat was speaking at a dinner for the conference "Voyage of Re-Discovery: Panning for Wealth in the Warming Arctic" at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He was joined by Iceland's president Olafur Grimsson and more than 50 government officials, business leaders, academics and environmentalists gathered to address issues of energy, the environment and foreign policy regarding the Arctic, which, as the latest science shows, is rapidly melting due to anthropogenic global warming.

Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential election to George W. Bush, said that even amongst the so-called "Tuesday Group"—a bipartisan group of mostly Democrat legislators who are concerned about energy policy—"you can't talk about climate now. People just turn off. It's extraordinary. Only for national security and jobs will they open their minds."[3]

CLIMATE CHANGE: IN CONGRESS, A FOUR-LETTER WORD

Extraordinary, perhaps, in the face of the numerous and repeated warnings of the effects of climate change from the international scientific community.

Click here to continue reading and comment

Reynard is a Justmeans staff writer for Sustainable Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility. A former media executive with 15 years experience in the private and non-profit sectors, Reynard is the co-founder of MomenTech, a New York-based experimental production studio that explores transnational progressivism, neo-nomadism, post-humanism and futurism. He is also author of the blog 13.7 Billion Years, covering cosmology, biodiversity, animal welfare, conservation and ethical consumption. He is currently developing the Underground Desert Living Unit (UDLU), a sustainable single-family dwelling envisioned as a potential adaptation response to the future loss of human habitat due to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Reynard is also a contributing author of "Biomes and Ecosystems," a comprehensive reference encyclopedia of the Earth's key biological and geographic classifications, to be published by Salem Press in 2013.