Climate Change has made an appearance in the Massachusetts Special Election to replace the late Ted Kennedy. As reported in the Boston Globe on December 17th, Republican candidate Scott Brown casts climate change as an economic issue (without agreeing that it’s happening or that human activity is driving it), and opposes taking action because it would hurt the economy. That is a false argument that must be tackled head on whenever it’s encountered.
I responded in a letter published in the Globe on Monday, December 21st:
Scott Brown is right about one thing – climate change is an economic issue. Unfortunately, the conclusions he draws from that observation are entirely wrong. Climate change presents frightening downside risks for our economy, while addressing the problem offers tremendous upside potential for jobs, business and the overall economy – especially here in Massachusetts, where we owe our standard of living to the innovation that has overcome other large challenges in the past.
Scott obviously doesn’t realize that the world’s largest reinsurers – the companies that bear the ultimate risk of catastrophes so that we and our insurance companies can sleep at night – are calling for urgent action. Or that over 180 investors, responsible for over $13 trillion in assets, have urged implementation of a strong climate change agreement reducing emissions between 50 and 85% by 2050 and advocated for government action supporting energy efficiency and low-carbon energy technologies. Just this week, more than 20 major US businesses including Massachusetts employers Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, National Grid and Starbucks, along with several New England-based companies, urged President Obama to help secure a climate change agreement that will, in their words “put the United States on the path to significant emissions reductions, a stronger economy and a new position of leadership in the global effort to stabilize our climate”.
People are uncertain and worried. Climate change and the supply and security of energy are big problems to get your head around when there are so many immediate challenges for families every day in a tough economy. But echoing people’s confusion and fear is not leadership. Leadership is doing the tough work of understanding the complex issues, telling people the truth and then making the choices to address the problem. And this is one problem where making those choices will leave us and our children better off economically and environmentally. We just have to have the courage and the leadership to get started.
(The above text is my letter as submitted. It was edited for publication.)