US environmentalists challenged to get climate change laws through Congress

Harvard professor urges leaders to be 'realistic' about politics and organise into a broader coalition that includes conservativesA Harvard professor is challenging America's environmental leaders to learn from their failures on climate change.Theda Skocpol accused Washington environmentalists in a research paper of grossly under-estimating the resistance to any environmental measures from Republicans in Congress and the conservative Tea party movement. That miscalculation doomed efforts to pass a climate change law.Now, in an interview, the political scientist is urging environmental activists to accept their mistakes, stop blaming Barack Obama and move on."If environmentalists can't step back two years later and realise it's more than Obama failing to do something, then they are not going to be ready for the next opening that comes along," Skocpol told The Guardian."The whole world has a stake in the United States figuring out how to change energy-use patterns. It is really, really important for the people involved on all sides of this, those on the inside and those sitting outside to say: 'what did we miss about the politics here, and what can we do about it next time around?"She said environmentalists needed to be "realistic". Even with extreme weather events like Sandy, there was little prospect of action on climate in the absence of a broad-based climate movement."You have got to pass legislation, and the way the US Congress works, what senators and representatives thin...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Republicans United States US Congress News guardian.co.uk US politics Activism Democrats Harvard University Climate change Obama administration Tea Party movement Conservation Environment Gas World news Source Type: news