(One part of) A Unified Climate/Energy Agenda

When I talked with Terry Tamminen a while back, he said something that got me thinking. As Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top enviro advisor, he was on the inside, making policy and being lobbied from all sides. He’s also been a part of several environmental NGOs, doing the lobbying. So he’s seen policy contests from both sides.

I asked him why green groups haven’t been more effective on climate and energy issues. He said it’s simple: when the business lobby goes after an issue, it speaks with a single voice. The chamber of commerce, the think tanks, and all the constituent industry groups agree on what they want. Then they lay it out to lawmakers.

Green groups, on the other hand, come in willy nilly, with a dozen different proposals, all stressing different things, frequently criticizing each other. It’s all about biofuels. No, it’s all about hybrids. No, it’s all about carbon taxes. Etc.

Politicians want to balance competing demands. They instinctively want to find the middle. But without a clear picture of what the environmental “side” is, they don’t know where the middle is.

So how can green groups unify their message on climate/energy? What kind of agenda could they all get behind? How could they present a unified end-goal to policymakers?

Grist