The dichotomy is prompting the scientific community to ratchet up its PR. Some well known climate scientists have written to members of Congress saying that the global warming is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue. It is a human cause and ignoring it will eventually put everyone in peril, thereby hurting economic activity, they write. 

“As with our growing debt, the longer we wait to address change, the worse it gets,” says the letter. “Heat-trapping carbon dioxide is building up in the atmosphere because burning coal, oil and natural gas produces far more carbon dioxide than is absorbed by oceans and forests.”

The scientists go on to say that the “carbon debt” is increasing just like the “national debt." The difference is that the carbon debt is more difficult to remedy once it reaches a certain point. They caution lawmakers to remove their political caps and to replace them with ones that rely on logic, saying climate change should not be “ideological” and “partisan.” 

 “Political philosophy has a legitimate role in policy debates, but not in the underlying climate science,” they say. “Climate change deniers cloak themselves in scientific language, selectively critiquing aspects of mainstream climate science.” 

The letter was signed by scientists representing such schools as Stanford and Princeton Universities as well as those national laboratories such as Lawrence Livermore. Eight experts from the National Academy of Sciences did the same and who also work for universities and research centers. 

The Obama team is sensitive to this view. By picking Steven Chu, a Nobel-winning scientist, to be his energy secretary, the president signaled that science would come first when making policy. 

Meeting in the Middle

At the same time, Obama has clearly said that he understands coal’s role in the national energy picture and that it provides about half of all fuel to make electricity. His strategy: To fund “clean coal” projects that can significantly reduce the pollutants that are regulated under the Clean Air Act while also holding the potential to capture and bury carbon emissions. 

The politics surrounding some of his early decisions are changing. That’s why the President’s State of the Union address made no mention of mandating carbon reductions; rather, it spoke of enacting a clean energy standard. By 2035, 80 percent of all fuels would be sustainable. That includes “clean coal” as well as natural gas and nuclear. 

Many business groups are skeptical of this plan. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been the most vocal and has basically shrugged it off. It says that businesses want practical solutions and not ones that sounds good. 

Certain things can be done without alienating small business, it says: The promotion of energy efficiency is a good start along with allowing domestic energy producers to have more exploration options. The chamber also says that the environmental permitting process is too cumbersome and that it can be streamlined without weakening the rules. And finally, it is warning against putting existing energy sources out of business in the quest to go green. 

“In this economic and political environment, policymakers are seeking solutions which will get us on the right path without bringing us further in debt,” says Karen Harbert, a lobbyist for the Chamber. “We’re proposing answers such as greater energy efficiency, more domestic production, streamlining—not weakening—environmental review processes, and eliminating trade barriers on clean energy goods and services. All of these solutions come at little or no taxpayer expense, but would dramatically improve our energy security in both the short and long term.”

The business group is surrounded by friendly U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. A few of those are working diligently to sidetrack some existing regulations that seek to cap carbon emissions. Their argument, even from the those on the left, is that the transition to cleaner burning fuels needs to slow down until the technologies catch up. 

That thinking runs contradictory to the views just espoused by the scientists. The matter has long been delayed, they say, noting now is the time is to act. 

President Obama's party took a thumping in November’s mid-term elections and he is now far more prepared to meet in the middle. But it will take two to tango if his green platform is to expand and the nation’s scientists are to get some satisfaction.

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