President Carter Was a Climate Visionary
We just laid President Carter to rest. At 100 years of age, he lived one of the most moral and humanistic lives of any public figure in my lifetime.
He was dealt a bad hand as president because he had to deal with the 1973 – 74 OPEC oil embargo, plus the decade long stagflation that resulted. At the time America was shocked by the quadrupling of the price of oil in less than a year, and Americans felt that the security of the country was at risk. The basis of the country’s energy policy was to achieve energy independence which, at that time, meant decreasing our consumption of petroleum.
The first Earth Day was in 1970. The development of climate science was in its infancy. Information like which fuel was the dirtiest relative to CO2 emissions was not fully clear at the time. That led to the thinking that America had plentiful coal, and we should extract it so we wouldn’t have to import from foreign countries. The next time that a President spoke about climate was 30 years later with President Obama picking up the cause.
During that 30 year period, humanity doubled the amount of GHG emissions of the prior 50 years. A big ‘what if?” for the world.
What if the solar panels that Carter put on the roof – and Reagan promptly took down upon taking office – had been expanded and had launched a national effort for solar power?
What if the heavy cardigan sweater that Carter wore in the White House had resulted in other leaders and then celebrities and then the middle class, all started to lower their thermostats, lowering the use of fossil fuels. [His advisers persuaded Carter to stop as the sweater was deemed “unpresidential.”]
What if America actually went forward with the call for energy independence rather than the next four presidents not even thinking about the idea as all four were somewhat beholden to the fossil fuel industry? We achieved that goal during President Biden’s presidency, more than 40 years after Carter called for it.
Here are some of the statements he made to the American people in prime-time speeches from the Oval office in 1977 and 1979:
“We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.”
“… and to permanent renewable energy sources like solar power.”
“… only if the Government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.”
“… an effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.”
“Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy.”
“The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement cost of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.”
“The tenth and last principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy that we will rely on in the next century.”
“… to insulate 90 percent of American homes and all new buildings.”
“… and we are the generation that will win the war on the energy problem and in that process rebuild the unity and confidence of America.”
“I’m proposing a bold conservation program to involve every state, county, and city and every average American in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford.”
“I’m proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems.”
These comments were all from 1977 and 1979. How sad for America and all of Spaceship Earth that he was not respected for his views. We didn’t follow because we were too busy in our own, consumptive lives.
We should all realize what a great man President Carter was. Now that he is gone, we should each bring one or several of the traits that he so beautifully exhibited into our lives: grace, honesty, simplicity, service and spirituality.
In my one interaction with President Carter and Rosalynn, they were incredibly warm and friendly.
May he rest in peace.
