Kerry and Gingrich Debate Climate Change Solutions
DISCUSSION
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Danny Lauridsen
Boston University Washington News Service
4-10-07
WASHINGTON, April 10 – U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and former Speaker of the House Newt L. Gingrich disagreed Tuesday over strategies for combating global climate change..
Their debate took place on Capitol Hill under the auspices of the New York University’s John Brademas Center.
While Mr. Kerry argued that climate change is a pressing issue that requires congressional attention and regulatory legislation, Mr. Gingrich said the free market can solve the problem through incentives for companies that reduce emissions.
“Economic growth really matters,” Mr. Gingrich said.
But Mr. Kerry argued that the crisis was too severe to give the market time to solve the problem and that immediate action nationwide would result only from legislative action.
In the first half of the 21sts Century, Mr. Kerry said, global warming could cause problems on a scale “equal to great wars and economic depression.”
“That’s why this is urgent,” he said. “That’s why you can’t say, ‘Let’s let the market respond.’ That’s like saying let’s let Barry Bonds go investigate steroids or Enron regulate pensions.”
Mr. Gingrich, who was speaker from 1995 to 1999, said he was in “clear agreement that human activity has helped increase global warming” but
did not think the problem required government regulation.
A plan that does not encourage China and India to reduce emissions would not be adequate in solving the global crisis, Mr. Gingrich said.
“We’re not going to coerce these countries into a regulatory regime,” he said. “You ask them to choose between science and economic growth, they’re both going to pick economic growth.”
But Mr. Kerry said China has said it is willing to work toward a solution. “They now are aware it’s a major problem,” he said. “They’re concerned. They are going green now. They are doing green building in many ways more than we are.”
Mr. Gingrich said incentives, or prizes, for companies that met certain emissions levels were he best way to let a free market solve the crisis of climate change on its own without imposing regulations that might slow the economy.
“We can move very rapidly if we’re moving there as consumers, he said. “Those of you that have cell phones are living proof. Those of you that have BlackBerries are living proof.”
Mr. Gingrich did not contest the urgency of the issue, saying, “We’re arguing whether the market can move faster than bureaucracy,” which he said it can “if you incentivize it.”
But Mr. Kerry argued that the companies leading the way in reducing emissions, and those that would be most affected by legislation, would prefer legislation to incentives.
“They all say we need an economy-wide [emissions] cap in order to make clear the rules of the road,” he said, stressing the need for everyone to follow the same standards instead of simply rewarding the ones who meet certain marks. “That’s the only way the market will respond,” he said.
“I start with economics to get to the same end,” Mr. Gingrich said, but Mr. Kerry argued that his own solution is just as driven by economic needs.
“Whoever develops the best technology is going to be the winner,” Mr. Kerry said. “That’s the American economy at its best.” He added, “There is no environmental crisis that has ever been solved voluntarily.”
Mr. Gingrich said Mr. Kerry’s solution would create pain great enough to cause companies to adapt, whereas his own solution would create pleasure great enough that “to get the pleasure they’ll build the plant.” Mr. Gingrich acknowledged that Mr. Kerry’s solution was one answer but argued that his answer was more creative and would be more effective, especially among conservatives with economy-first philosophies.
“This is a very challenging thing to do if you’re a conservative,” Mr. Gingrich said. “The environment has been a powerful emotional tool for bigger government and higher taxes. I think there has to be a green conservative.”
At one point Mr. Gingrich held up a copy of Mr. Kerry’s new book, This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future, and said, “I would agree with about 60 percent of this book.”
“We’ve been through catastrophes,” he said. “I think what we need to have is optimism. The human race has an enormous ability to adapt.”
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