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For many in the green movement, the election of Barack Obama on November 4, 2008, was seen as a victory for their cause. Throughout the campaign, we heard very different plans from a range of candidates. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and of course John McCain all offered their vision for the future of energy in America and plans for confronting climate change. In the end, Obama's unique plan won the day but, in the aftermath of the election victory, we are left asking: what will Obama's green White House look like?
The first concern is whether, in light of recent economic instability and two ongoing wars, environmental issues will even be a consideration for the new administration. David Roberts of Grist argues that, along with progress in Iraq and healthcare reform, dealing with carbon and climate change will be one of the first three issues tackled by the Obama White House. Of course, dealing with these issues will not be possible without compromise. Roberts mentions that support and funding will be given to research clean coal, oil shale, and liquid coal, things that make most environmentalists shudder. Still, the overall goal, to dramatically increase the amount of clean energy used in the United States, will be the same.
And battling climate change, as Andy Revkin of the New York Times demonstrates, should be the primary concern of any politician or citizen. He explains that adding carbon to the atmosphere is "as if a leaky balloon is being inflated faster than air is escaping. As long as the inflow exceeds the leakage, it will eventually burst."
What the first priorities and initiatives of the Obama White House will be remain to be seen. Certainly, concessions will be made and arguments had over plans and proposals. Knowing this, almost every environmentalist agrees that the first move should be a simple one: replacing the solar panels on the White House roof.
For more predictions for Obama's Green White House, check out Focus Earth: November 8, 2008: Barack Obama's Green White House & Opening of the Arctic.
Read more about green politics:
Be the Change... Obama Should Reinstall White House Solar Panels
Too Little, Too Late? McCain v. Obama on Global Warming
What Green Words Are Obama and McCain Really Saying? Ask SpeechWars
