By Danielle Elefritz
Summer 2013
Of the many unique things about living in nation’s capital, my favorite thus far have been in relation to the countless events—expos, discussion panels, forums—always being held to lobby for a certain policy change or to promote a particular idea. Such events oft include leading field experts or famed politicians, stimulating ideals, and perhaps most essentially, free food.
As an Environmental Analysis and Policy student, much of what I’ve attended concerns energy and climate policy, an area of particular interest to me. These have included discussions held at think tanks (such as Resources for the Future, Center for American Progress, and American Enterprise Institute) on the proper management of shale gas development and the feasibility of a carbon tax as well as an expo on renewable energy and improvements in energy efficiency held on Capitol Hill, which featured select representatives of congress’s bipartisan energy committee.
The best event I’ve attended by far, however, would have to be the Politics of Climate Change Forum hosted at the Newseum by The New Republic magazine. Having heard about the event through my friend Lital, who is interning for a progressive climate action campaign, I signed up for the event without looking too much into it beforehand. To my very fortunate surprise, it opened with a keynote address from Heather Zichal, the Deputy Assistant to Obama for Energy and Climate Change, who disclosed a few of the President’s climate mitigation approaches (which he revealed in full exactly a week later at Georgetown as part of his Climate Action Plan). The forum also featured an esteemed panel of experts and professionals from Ceres, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (where I hope to work someday), which provided a wide breadth of perspective from business to the natural and social sciences. The conference closed with remarks from John Podesta, founder of the Center for American Progressive and the Center for American Progress Action Fund but recognized perhaps most notably as former President Clinton’s Chief of Staff.
What I most appreciated about this event, more so than other events I’d attended prior, was that it delivered a realistic approach to mitigation strategy. It made note of the implausibility of passing any sort of climate legislation through our divided congress, discussed the importance of making climate change a bipartisan initiative, and it addressed techniques for how the executive can (and hopes to) work with the Environmental Protection Agency to circumvent a gridlocked House and Senate. The other aforementioned events I’d attended praised small pieces of the field, but never gave a holistic nor realistic discussion of how to reach, especially in our current political environment, that much desired endpoint of maintaining economic growth while protecting human and environmental health. Moreover, I delighted in being able to share a room and to network with like-minded climate advocates and field leaders. Alas no worries, the free coffee and pastries provided were in no way underappreciated!
Danielle is a rising senior in the Environmental Analysis and Policy Program at BU. She is interning for the Department of Justice- Environmental and Natural Resources Division.
