Meeting With the Dalai Lama, Energy Secretary and President on Climate Change

Here's a wonderful piece to end the week -- a story, written by Rep. Jay Inslee of Washington, about his climate change conversations this week with the Dalai Lama, Energy Secretary Chu, and President Obama.

Says Inslee of the Dalai Lama:

That the Dalai Lama is an important voice in the climate change debate might strike some as surprising. After all, he has his hands full trying to protect the religious liberty of the Tibetan people. But in our meeting with him and Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Capitol, he made it abundantly clear that he considers climate change a mortal threat to his people as well as to all of the one and a half billion people who depend upon the rivers flowing from the threatened glaciers of the Himalayas.

Of his meeting with Chu:

Secretary Chu made a statement that might stun many Americans. He believes China has passed America in the field of high-tech manufacturing, not low-cost manufacturing. His statement revealed a new truth. We have historically feared the ability of China to beat us due to their low-wage rates. That fear now properly should be replaced by a concern about its ability to dominate high-tech manufacturing.

But Secretary Chu has an answer to that gloomy prospect: America can become a major provider to the world of clean energy products and services, if we play our cards right.

And finally of his meeting with President Obama:

In (a) way his basketball game is just like his strategy on clean energy legislation—his forthcoming score is going to surprise a lot of people. Until we passed our energy bill in the House, most said it couldn’t be done. Now they are saying we cannot get a bill out of the Senate. Those folks are wrong, just like the folks were wrong who might have thought that Obama is too skinny to go to the hoop in traffic. The dynamic is in our direction. All the relevant pressures are breaking our way.

Of course, we still have lots of work to do to give Congress the support they need to make this happen.  Again, those of you in swing states, especially, please call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and urge them to support and strengthen the Kerry/Boxer bill.  Tell them that if California has a new standard that requires 33% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020, certainly America can do the same...

With that thought, I'm going to crack a beer and enjoy the last couple of innings of the Yankees/Angels game.

Read Inslee's full post>>
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