ANDERSON COOPER: A look at the polls in the most important issues in this year’s presidential election is the economy. We know that. We also know the candidates say they have a plan to fix it. What about the other issues that need to be addressed? What about the environment, for instance? You rarely hear the candidates talk about it. You rarely hear them asked about it. Frankly, we think it’s time they do talk about it. Tonight, we’re going to find out what their solutions are for our “Planet in Peril.” Helping us along the way is “TIME” magazine … The magazine is devoting its new issue to the environment. For only the second time ever, “TIME” has changed its cover border, you can see it, this time from red to green.
Joining me now is “TIME” magazine’s Eric Pooley, who writes about it in this new issue. Eric, you’re writing about cap and trade, which is something we’ve heard a little about on the campaign trail. Why is that so important? You call that sort of really the first step in pushing forward this issue.
ERIC POOLEY, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, if we want to get serious about global warming and pollution, voluntary actions are not going to be enough. We can’t rely on virtue. It’s the first big test because Congress has to pass a bill that puts in place a cap and trade system. We’ll talk about what that is. But Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp calls it the starting gun because it’s what we need to unleash a new clean energy economy that will not just give us a shot at beating the global warming problem but will also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and really transform the energy basis of our economy.
ANDERSON: So what is cap and trade?
POOLEY: OK. Let’s say, Anderson, that you are powering a mega electric utility and you put out, say, 100 tons of global warming pollution a year. We’re going to put you on a diet. First, what we’re going to do is measure, OK, 100 tons, then we’re going to give you 100 permits or allowances to release that 100 tons in the course of the year. So far so good. But then the diet begins. Over time, slowly, we reduce the number of permits that you get. So you have to clean up your act. And if you can clean it up in a way that gets you way below your limit, you know, if your diet is very successful because you’ve put in newer technologies, you can sell your extra credits and make money.
ANDERSON: So that’s the trade part.
POOLEY: That’s the trade part and it’s really important because suddenly you’ve got a profit motive for going green.
ANDERSON: But critics are saying, look, this cap and trade thing is, you know, you’re asking companies and industries, which may not have a lot of profits or which are slow to develop, you’re asking them to come up with new technologies and that’s going to cost them a lot of money in research and development.
POOLEY: Well, cap and trade has a way to help that, too, because under some of the proposals, you’re auctioning off these permits and raising a lot of money.
ANDERSON: We also hear on the campaign trail some of the candidates talking about green collar jobs. And don’t go into much detail, are these jobs for real?
POOLEY: Yes, these jobs are for real and they already exist. They’re creating wind turbans, they’re creating solar photovoltaic, there are steelworker jobs, cement worker jobs, big heavy industry but in the service of clean technology, not pollution or climate change.
ANDERSON: But I do know a lot of critics say, look, even if we start capping this stuff over the years, it doesn’t much matter because China is, you know, bringing on new coal plants, a couple of new ones, every week. We don’t really have the technology to be able to change the climate.
POOLEY: Well, it took China I think 18 or 19 years to follow us on sulfur dioxide scrubbing from power plants. We can’t wait 20 years for China to follow us on global warming. I’m convinced they want to get into the game on this. But obviously we can’t just give them a free ride. They have to be part of the solution. They’re not going to commit to the same reductions that we are in the same year but they have to commit to something. It has to be real or this thing is never going to pass. And Lieberman-Warner tries to address that. We’ve got a lot of work to do in that area.
ANDERSON: OK.
POOLEY: I’m not going to lie, this is hard stuff.
ANDERSON: Yes. It certainly is. You’re right about it again and “TIME” magazine this week. Eric Pooley, thanks for being with us.
—April 18, 2008