Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

102 S politics and governance
transparent, pragmatic, and fair. The outlines of consensus have
emerged around an energy policy that would:
Reduce our dependence on imported fuels
Minimize our vulnerability to political confl icts in unstable
parts of the world
Reduce our balance of payments defi cit
Raise the costs of fossil fuels relative to those of improved
effi ciency and renewables
Lower costs that are now externalized
Generate better technology and a stronger economy
Create millions of jobs in green energy
Improve air and water quality
Protect public health
Lower health costs
Reduce the infl uence of entrenched energy industries on U.S.
politics.
The right energy policy, in other words, should solve or lessen
many problems, including those of climate change and national
security, while providing many collateral benefi ts. The president
will need to sell such a vision in order to build a majority coalition
that crosses old lines of left and right by joining people of
faith, laborers, farmers, minorities, business leaders, intellectuals,
and members of the fi nancial community.
Whatever the content of the policy and however it is communicated,
effective implementation will require changes at the
interface between policy and science at all levels. The fi rst objective
is to rebuild and enhance the integrity and capacity of federal
environment and science-based agencies (such as the Department
of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department
of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
that are essential to climate research and our capacity to foresee