Super Eco

Photo credit: kevindooley, flickr

The Obama administration is putting the heat on Congress to pass major climate change legislation by December in an effort to boost America's clout at the COP14 summit. Climate Change Czar Carol Browner hopes enacting firm environmental laws that drastically cut our domestic greenhouse gas emissions will position the U.S. as a leader in the fight to reduce global warming.

But, we wonder, will stricter emissions laws be enough to establish the U.S. as a champion for a better climate in the wake of President George W. Bush's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol?

We will find out on Dec. 7, when some 180 nations gather at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP14) in Copenhagen to draft an ambitious new treaty to cut global emissions. Officials from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are calling COP14 "the last chance" for world leaders to come to an agreement before the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Out of 141 nations, only the U.S. and Australia failed to sign the historic Protocol.

How will Congress respond to the onus of finally slashing America's record-high emissions (after China, the U.S. is the world’s second worst emitter), and, hopefully, a long-awaited facelift to our shoddy global environmental profile? Will they act in time for COP14? So far, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have agreed to allow debates on global warming legislation. Still, there is no clear-cut timetable for the passage of a sweeping greenhouse-gas policy. 
 
Meanwhile, House of Representatives hearings on unprecedented climate-change legislation are scheduled to begin next week. As soon as next month, the EPA is expected to add CO2 to its "danger to the public" toxins list. The move could set off a regulatory domino effect of tough emissions laws under the Clean Air Act.

What do you think? Will America finally take a seat at the forefront of "the war on global warming"?