Interview: America turns red, white and green

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http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327191.200-interview-america-turns-red-white-and-green.html

Interview: America turns red, white and green

* 03 August 2009 by Graham Lawton

The US's stance on climate change has shifted beyond recognition. President Barack Obama's science adviser John Holdren tells Graham Lawton how the US will put its house in order, secure a deal at the make-or-break summit in Copenhagen, and lead the world's fight against dangerous climate change

How will you persuade the American people that climate change is a problem and win support for policies to tackle it?

The polls show that 70 to 75 per cent of the American public accepts that climate change is real, that humans are largely responsible, and that we need to do something about it. But it doesn't rank particularly high on their concerns: the top concern tends to be the economy. So it's recognised as a problem but needs to move up.

President Obama has made it clear that the same strategies can help reduce the risk of climate change, reduce dependence on imported oil and help drive recovery with new businesses and jobs in clean energy. He is saying we can get a lot of things done simultaneously by making the right investments and developing the right policies, including the policies in the energy climate bill that recently http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/26/news/economy/cap_and_trade/">passed in the House of Representatives (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327191.200-interview-america-turns-red-white-and-green.html?full=true#bx271912B1">see backgrounder).

What does the bill hope to achieve? Does it contain binding targets for reducing greenhouse emissions?

Absolutely. The target is for emissions in 2020 to be 17 per cent below those of 2005. This would amount to being a few per cent below what they were in 1990.

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