At last night's AU Forum on The Climate Change Generation, one of the students asked what can be done to break public indifference on the issue.
In the YouTube clip above, I answered that Obama as president needs to make climate change a leading communication priority, marshaling the power of the bully pulpit for a long term president-led engagement campaign on the issue. When and if this happens, I suggested one of the first things Obama should do is to personally host a series of Rose Garden summits with religious leaders, business leaders, public health experts, and national security experts and then go on the road with these leaders, speaking to communities across the country.
Fellow panelist Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post followed by saying that the White House has hosted meetings of these groups but Obama has yet to be able to be on hand or to make these meetings a part of his regular bully pulpit efforts.
You can watch the clip of the discussion above. Also the full video of the panel is available here.
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Let's hope we will graciously be spared
Another campaign for a cause by Obama.
After his incessant campaigning for "healthcare"
One for CC aka GW(ing) would only be more melodrama.
He's a guy who apparently can't quit
Taking advantage of the "bully pulpit"
To exercise a clear bent
For "bully self-aggrandizement"--
For BO, always the underlying intent.
The best way to popularize climate change is for scientists with impeccable track records to do it.
Not politicians whose own economic agendas can instantly be called into question.
We need another Isaac Asimov or Carl Sagan.
Obama and especially Al Gore should just stay the hell out of it.
They're alienating more folks in the heartland than they're convincing.
And by making politicians the visible advocates for climate change, you're subliminally suggesting that this is a political question, rather than a scientific question.