On election night, while I stayed up late to watch the monumental events taking place in the U.S., I truly understood for the first time why my mother woke my brother and sister up from a deep sleep when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. Moments like Barack Obama’s win in our global village are worth remembering and personally restore my faith in our world.
From across the Atlantic, we all view America as a land of ideas and dreams — and Tuesday night, that dream was reborn. During his speech from Chicago, President-Elect Obama spoke about the “planet in peril” in a clear reference to climate change and the growing problems we all face as a result of global warming.
According to his senior advisors, Obama will move to change some of the damaging policies that now put our planet in peril and re-involve the U.S. in the global climate change discussion. In fact, in three weeks, Obama will send representatives to the important U.N. climate change talks in Poznam, Poland. According to some, he is also expected to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and similar to the recently announcements by the UK government, cut emissions to 80 percent by 2050. This system will utilize a cap-and-trade system to ensure that while cuts are met, industry will be encouraged and rewarded as they reduce their emissions and invest in renewable energy.
The other great news from Election Day is that seven members of Congress from the so-called “Dirty Dozen” lawmakers, who have consistently voted against clean energy and conservation, failed to keep their seats.
Already, many U.S. environmental groups have greeted the news of Obama’s win with great delight. Rodger Schlickeisen, the president of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, said, “For the first time in nearly a decade, we can look to the future with a sense of hope that the enormous environmental challenges we face will begin to be addressed and that our air, land, water, and wildlife — and the overall health of our planet — will not be sacrificed to appease polluting industries and campaign contributors.” Over here in Europe, Friends of the Earth’s Andy Atkins said, “Obama’s victory will give crucial climate negotiations a much greater chance of success — the United States must face up to its international responsibilities and show positive global leadership in low-carbon economic development.”
According to his manifesto, Obama’s climate change plans will be linked to a $175 billion (£109 billion) economic-stimulus package intended to revamp the U.S. energy economy and kick-start a new environmental policy by creating 5 million new “green” jobs. “That’s going to be my number one priority when I get into office,” Obama said of his green recovery plans shortly before his election. “A clean-energy economy can be the engine that drives us into the future in the same way the computer was the engine for economic growth over the last couple of decades.”
With the need for economic growth and jobs in the U.S. and around the globe, the financial crisis may have a short-term effect on his plans — as many green companies are struggling under the recent economic downturn — but, as he has shot so high before, perhaps he will hit somewhere in between and create and gain support for acceptable policies that will create jobs, ensure national security and guarantee a sustainable future for all of us. After what happened in these elections, I believe anything can happen. Welcome the Green Obama! Ah, but if only he were Irish too!