2. Put your proposals and arguments in the context of an interdependent world. Give examples of our interconnectedness.
3. Explain how your proposals are smart/effective/ pragmatic in the context of today's world.
4. Explain how your proposals are the right thing to do. Talk about what kind of country we want to be in the world, with reference to our ideals and traditions -- who we strive to be as people. Talk about the kind of world we want to leave our children.
5. Place your specifics within the context of big, crosscutting themes about smart and decent problem solving and behavior, e.g.: Pragmatic. Principled. Farsighted. Comprehensive. Trustworthy. Collaborative.
10. Stress a "can-do" approach. Inspire others with your vision of what America can do, working with others, to create a safer and better world. Don't use fear and guilt as your entry point to a subject.
11. Empower listeners by telling them what they can do and giving them yardsticks to evaluate policy actions and progress. (See "Engaging Citizens," Tab 8)
12. Avoid jargon and acronyms. (See "Wonk-Speak Translator," Tab 2).
16. Use numbers sparingly and put them in context.
- Describe this as a fixable problem, and even as an opportunity.
- Define the problem early; prepare a very short, simple description of the problem that includes the words carbon and carbon dioxide. Talk about "carbon pollution" instead of vague "greenhouse gases." Explain how burning oil, gas, and coal thickens the natural layer of heat-trapping gases around our planet. Giving people a simple way to conceptualize the cause of global warming is especially important: most Americans don't know what "greenhouse gases" are and many think that global warming is connected to a thinning ozone layer.
- Focus on what scientists agree on, not what they don't. Seize the debate back from uncertainty by starting with the overwhelming consensus about what we do know. Explain why what we know calls for smart planning and investments that help to protect us against risks.
- Explain how actions to address global warming -- including investments in newer, cleaner, and more efficient sources of energy -- can lead to all kinds of other benefits. (See "Why America's Energy Choices Matter.")
- Inspire and empower audiences by talking about the exciting actions and movements already under way to help -- by cities, businesses, citizens, other countries, and the like. Combine your call for a major national commitment to meeting the challenge with descriptions of these encouraging developments.
- Explain how U.S. actions on this issue are related to big issues and questions about America's role in the world (see "America's Role in the World"). Explain what other nations are doing to address the issue.
- Stress American know-how and our capacity to innovate. Remind your listeners about the power of American science and technology.
- In addressing America's role, emphasize the opportunities for doing better instead of how much we are to blame. For instance, try talking about how America has risen to challenges in the past.
- Talk about the number of constructive, bipartisan proposals on the table that would get us back on track.
- Don't use "Kyoto" as shorthand. Don't make global warming about Kyoto per se. Talk about what actions would help to get America on track toward joining with others in seeking effective global solutions.
- Don't start by trying to scare people with the scale of the problem, images of floods, and other extreme weather events. These will lead most people either to think that the problem is too big to do anything about or to think only of policies that will help us to adapt to climate changes, not prevent them. Try some Do's above first before talking about the scale of the challenge.
- When choosing between the terms "global warming" and "climate change," keep in mind that neither one is perfect. "Global warming" is preferred by many leading advocates because the term is now more familiar to more citizens, whereas "climate change" is sometimes confused with changes in the seasons. But during harsh winters, "global warming" advocates have become the butt of jokes by those who either don't understand the science or seek to discredit it.
- A possible alternative is to develop phrases that combine global warming with climate disruption -- e.g., "small amounts of global warming are expected to produce different kinds of climate disruptions, from extreme heat to extreme cold, torrential downpours to big snowstorms. " ... "By slowing down global warming, we might head off some of the most serious potential disruptions."
Farsighted Global warming is a problem that we still have time to solve. But
we need immediate action and a long-term plan to slow it down and
prevent it from getting out of hand. Global warming is happening because the
natural insulation in our atmosphere that protects us from outer space and keeps Earth's
temperature in balance is getting too dense. This is happening primarily because the way we
currently produce energy -- to generate electricity, heat our homes, and power our cars -- creates
too much carbon dioxide and other invisible gases that float up into our atmosphere and thicken
Earth's natural insulation, throwing off the planet's built-in thermostat. When we created an energy
system last century based on burning oil, gas, and coal, we didn't know that the pollution from
these fuels would be harmful to Earth's health. Now we do. Scientists tell us that the carbon pollution
and other heat-trapping gases we emit today will linger in the atmosphere until our grandchildren
are adults -- so the sooner we act, the more likely we can get a handle on the problem.
- According to a global panel of 2,000 leading scientists, average temperatures will rise
worldwide 2 to 10 degrees during this century. That will make Boston feel as hot as
New York, New York seem like Washington, and Washington feel like Atlanta.
- U.S. and global leaders as diverse as California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and
UK prime minister Tony Blair -- who has pledged to cut UK emissions of global
warming gases 60 percent in 50 years -- are committed to action.
- Solutions are within reach: Germany has already reduced its global warming gases by
19 percent from 1990 levels. Denmark now gets 20 percent of its electricity from wind,
and the UK will get 10 percent by 2010.
Teamwork Global warming is a challenge for business, government, and
individuals alike. Global warming will make the world a vastly different place for our
children and grandchildren. It affects governments that must plan for floods, droughts, crop
and even has the Pentagon worried -- because of its potential to heighten uncertainty and costs.
- Global warming will create serious changes in weather patterns, not make the world one
giant beach. Effects like the melting of glaciers and changes in winds and ocean currents
(e.g., the Gulf Stream) could make some areas much colder, some drier, and others wetter.
This could mean massive disruptions for agriculture, industry -- and thus ultimately for all
people globally. Just one heat wave across Europe in the summer of 2003 claimed 21,000 lives.
- Global warming has already contributed to crop failures, shrinking glaciers, and earlier
"springtimes" for plants and birds. Scientists predict that it could cause the loss of up
to 37 percent of the world's species by 2050.
- Global warming is a challenge for business, government, and individuals alike. Global
warming will make the world a vastly different place for our children and grandchildren.
It affects governments that must plan for floods, droughts, crop failures, or even -- for some
island nations -- entire countries simply disappearing. It affects business -- and
even has the Pentagon worried -- because of its potential to heighten uncertainty and costs.
Farsighted Technology gives us exciting new options -- if we are farsighted
enough to pursue them. The way to slow and reverse global warming is to reduce
the use of fuels that emit carbon when burned. We have energy technologies available
now -- and more being developed -- that will help fight global warming and meet our need
for safe, reliable, affordable energy. What's more, commercializing and exporting these
technologies will create new high-tech jobs for Americans.
- Change can happen fast -- consider that 100 years ago our grandparents were feeding horses
instead of fueling cars, and shoveling coal for furnaces instead of adjusting thermostats.
- Technologies already available are encouraging. Natural gas burns twice as cleanly as
coal. Hybrid technologies that double gas mileage have gone from auto-show rarities in
2001 to availability in cars, trucks, SUVs, and even luxury vehicles by 2005. The
number of hybrids on the road is increasing every year. Wind power is the fastestgrowing
source of energy around the world.
Can-do The future is not yet written. We can do it. We can do something about
global warming -- just as we have reduced air pollution in American cities and helped lead
the global fight against pollution that was depleting Earth's ozone layer. But we need U.S.
leadership, and we need a partnership between government and business.
- We know what we have to do. Experts and leaders from both parties agree that a
successful strategy will involve a cap on how much carbon pollution the U.S. emits
every year, and market-based trading to make that cap as efficient as possible.
- We know market-based trading can work. More than 10 years ago, President George H.
W. Bush and Congress created a plan to let companies trade rights to emit the chemicals
that cause acid rain, which dramatically lowered the costs involved in beating the problem.
- Even earlier, President Reagan and Congress recognized the need to join other countries
in taking action to close the atmosphere's ozone hole. The treaty the U.S. and 180 other
nations signed has helped reverse the hole's growth even faster than scientists predicted.
- Major corporations are already taking innovative steps to reduce global-warming-related
pollution. Dupont has reduced its emissions by 67 percent since 1990, and its cumulative
energy-related improvements have already saved the company $2 billion. BP has cut emissions
by 20 percent since 1990; they spent $20 million doing it and saved the company $650 million.
Others could do the same -- but are waiting for a strong signal from the U.S. government.
Teamwork But America can't do it alone. It's up to the U.S. to get a handle on our share of
total global warming -- currently, it's 25 percent. But just a few countries cutting emissions won't
make much difference. We have the technology and the know-how to help other countries cut
their emissions, and our industry has the innovation and drive to shape a generation of cleaner
homes, cars, and factories. But though European and other countries have started working
together to fight global warming, the U.S. chose to walk away from international negotiations
and has since done nothing to stop adding fumes to the atmosphere. If we don't want to pass
the buck to our children and grandchildren, we need to get started. Within the two decades,
the fast-growing economies of China and India will produce more carbon pollution than the
U.S. With its strong technological advantages, the U.S. should see this as a business opportunity
to get started now to build and market the technology that these developing countries will need
to do their part in fighting pollution. And we can't expect them, or other countries with growing
economies, to do their share if we, with all our resources and technology, haven't done ours.
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