Closing Statement - Today's Problems, Tomorrow's Vision

• Author: Leslie Carothers
• Position: President
• Pages: 56-56

Page 56 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2011, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, May/June 2011

ELI Report

Writing an upbeat farewell

column in the midst of

Washington’s budget bat-

tle is no fun. Successful environmental

programs are under attack, and prog-

ress on a new agenda looks impossible.

In times like this, it helps to look back

and then ahead to renew the conf‌idence

and energy to push forward.

At the ceremony to rename the Inte-

rior Department building for Secretary

Stewart Udall, Republican Senator Alan

Simpson described him as a “troubled

optimist,” a description I embrace. In

the 1960s, Secretary Udall surveyed an

American scene of dirty air and water

and a degraded landscape with both

alarm and commitment to bring about

change. Since then, our environment is

much cleaner by any measure, the re-

sult of national and state laws that re-

f‌lected a profound change in the ethics

and policy governing behavior toward

our common natural environment.

ELI is proud of its role in ushering in

this transformation and committed to

securing it for the future.

Everyone knows today’s problems

are more complex to communicate and

solve than they were in the 1970s. It

does not help that Americans are deep-

ly discouraged by today’s economic and

political conditions. Although U.S.

GDP has grown by leaps and bounds

since 1970, the great majority of Amer-

icans have seen little or no growth in

income while the top tier has done very

well.

Pundits like to blame “partisanship”

for our government’s dysfunction. But

from where I sit, this term is a euphe-

mism for the decline of responsible

leadership in the Republican Party. Its

seasoned leaders seem to be ceding the

platform to ultra conservative newcom-

ers and vanity presidential candidates

eager to turn out the party’s remaining

problem solvers, including some of the

environment’s best friends. Big money

and trash media have greatly magni-

f‌ied the inf‌luence of extremists. But it

remains to be seen whether many of

the people voting for change thought

they would get an anti-science, anti-

environment, anti-public worker set of

representatives who think knee capping

EPA is a good thing for their constitu-

ents and their communities.

It’s time to reaf‌f‌irm that our envi-

ronmental mission is about supporting

public health and life support systems

as well as the wonder and beauty of

nature for everyone and for the future,

and that everyone should have a voice

in how we go about it. We are not a

special interest. ELI’s Environment

2050 initiative seeks to work with all

sectors and perspectives to help def‌ine

a positive future, one that ref‌lects the

best thinking of experts and citizens

as well as our own institutional vision

of a healthy environment, prosperous

economies, and vibrant communi-

ties founded on the rule of law. Many

suggest that we formulate strategies fo-

cused on economic sectors and systems,

such as agriculture, energy, buildings,

transportation, and materials, to make

them greener. e word “green” here is

shorthand for a diverse set of changes to

improve ef‌f‌iciency and optimize perfor-

mance in economic and social as well

as environmental dimensions. Science

is already of‌fering many of the insights

and tools to change these elements of

the economy in ways that will greatly

increase human well-being, promote

sustainable economic development,

and, yes, position the nation better to

compete in the markets of the future.

A major task of environmental law

and policy experts and advocates is to

imagine new ways to move markets and

major sectors of the economy to make

these changes. Among other things,

this will require public and private poli-

cies and decisionmaking that prevent

short term costs from defeating longer

term benef‌its.

Former EPA Administrator William

K. Reilly has observed that we may not

have a strong national climate protec-

tion strategy until some catastrophic

event focuses our minds (perhaps large

chunks of Greenland f‌loating by Atlan-

tic City). But with or without a crisis,

gaining public understanding and sup-

port requires making a clear and com-

pelling case that a greener economy is

not only benef‌icial but achievable and

af‌fordable. Here is where we have the

most work to do.

I look forward to watching ELI

and its outstanding staf‌f strike out in

new directions under a new president,

safeguarding its enduring values and

strengths: a commitment to objec-

tive law and policy research, a legacy

of supporting non-partisanship and

robust debate in its publications and

programs, and an abiding belief that

educating and involving citizens as well

as the profession in the great environ-

mental issues of the day will, over time,

yield benef‌its that enrich peoples’ lives

and help preserve the planet. From my

next perch in academia, you will hear

me cheering them on.

Starting in September, I will be Schol-

ar-in-Residence at Pace Law School. ELI

friends can reach me there at leslieacaroth-

ers@gmail.com.

Closing Statement

Today’s Problems, Tomorrow’s Vision

Leslie Carothers

President