I believe that nations must cooperate in as many ways as possible on issues that affect all nations, including global climate change and global trade. I will utilize all effective means of encouraging and participating in this cooperation, including activity in the United Nations and other global groups, without ceding any of our rights to protect United States interests. These efforts will not be short-sighted efforts to gain advantage for this country at the expense of others in the world but will seek reasonable and fair outcomes that build a cooperative and trusting climate for future negotiations and problem-solving.
It seems clear that human activity does contribute to the natural warming cycle that the earth is undergoing right now. You can’t burn fuels without creating heat, and there are now billions of us doing it. This could be ignored when human populations were small, but now with eight billion people we are doing enough heating to make a difference in the world’s weather. The more important focus, though, should be what we should be doing to prepare our nation for expectable changes, such as rising sea levels and soil temperatures, and to ensure that we change crops to those that can thrive in slightly warmer temperatures. It doesn’t seem realistic that we can have enough green energy to completely replace burning fuels (what about back-up power generation when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow?), but we should build as much green energy infrastructure as we can. As noted elsewhere, the vain hope of bringing resources to Earth from the moon or Mars is foolish, since the price will always be out of reach.
We must balance taking steps to change over to green power as much as possible with the pain this is causing to consumers and to businesses. Transitions that are too fast or abrupt create more resistance. Another balancing issue regarding climate is whether we feel responsibility to future generations to maintain a livable planet. Most of us would prefer to maintain a livable planet, but for most of us this must be at a reasonable cost to those now living. I will continue to encourage green energy enterprise but at a slightly slower pace, to accommodate the needs of our citizens.
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