Two years ago, at a Washington symposium observing the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, much of the discussion centered around the use of the landmark pollution law to try to address a problem its authors never anticipated â€" climate change caused by increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
@import url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/projects/assets/agenda/agenda-inline.css);Â
The meeting took place just a few months after the Senate refused to act on a bill passed by the House in 2009 that would have addressed climate change by creating a cap and trade system to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
The frustration in the auditorium wa s palpable, as the largely like-minded government officials, scientists, public health experts and environmental advocates bemoaned the political paralysis that had blocked any major action on what they considered the most urgent problem facing the planet.
What will it take, one audience member asked at an afternoon panel discussion, for the country to wake up to the problem of climate change and decide to do something about it?
One of the panelists, William K. Reilly, who served as Environmental Protection Agency administrator under the first President Bush, said Katrina wasn't big enough to provoke a real debate on climate change. He speculated that it would take a weather event, or a series of weather events, of epic proportions to galvanize the public and policy makers to take action.
What has happened since then? The thunderstorm and tornado swarms of early 2011, including the monstrous Joplin, Mo., disaster. Hurricane Irene, which inundated much of th e Northeast. The worst heat wave in Russia in 1,000 years. Record-shattering heat and drought in much of the United States this year. The lowest level of Arctic sea ice ever measured. The melting of virtually the entire ice sheet of Greenland, something not seen in 30 years of satellite measurements.
And yet climate change is barely a blip on the political radar in this year's campaign. The topic appears in the Republican convention platform only in one passage berating the Obama administration for elevating climate change to a “‘severe threat' equivalent to foreign aggression.†The platform also calls for rescinding the E.P.A.'s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. President Obama seldom mentions the topic in campaign appearances, although in a speech at Iowa State University on Tuesday he did refer to his efforts to promote alternative energy sources and more efficient cars as ways to reduce carbon pollution.
So what will it take to start a de bate on climate change and government efforts to address it? The League of Conservation voters has started a petition drive calling on PBS's Jim Lehrer, the moderator of the first presidential debate, to force the candidates to answer questions about climate change.
Do you believe climate change should have a more prominent place in the political debate? What would it take to assure that it does? Use the comments section to share your ideas.
