NEWS

Two issues for the future: Climate and deficits

05/15/2007

By ANN TIMBERLAKE AND CHAD WALLDORF - Guest columnists

THE STATE

Elections are about the future. They are about tackling the challenges before us and outlining a more hopeful vision for the country. As the candidates prepare for the second debate in South Carolina tonight, it is an opportunity to focus on the two issues that could have the greatest impact on what America will look like in 20 years: global climate change and our nation's fiscal crisis.

People may be surprised that a lifelong conservationist and long-standing conservative could share these concerns. The explanation is simple: future generations. While these may sound like complex political issues, at their root, they are moral concerns. America has always been driven by the belief that every generation must strive and sacrifice to make things better for its children and grandchildren. Our generation stands to be the first in recent memory to betray this principle and leave a significant burden, both fiscal and environmental, for generations to come.

The evidence on both issues is clear and compelling.

More than 2,000 of the world's top scientists have confirmed that human dependence on fossil fuels is causing climate change. Without an immediate and significant response, they warn that the earth will warm to catastrophic levels - disrupting food production, weather patterns and water levels - all within our children's lifetime. The impacts on a coastal and agricultural state such as ours will be unmistakable.

In a bipartisan poll conducted last month of South Carolina primary voters, an overwhelming number of Republicans (80 percent) and Democrats (87 percent) agreed that the federal government should take steps to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Strong majorities in both parties also believe that limiting our dependence on fossil fuels would strengthen our economy and enhance our national security.

Although the federal debt is less tangible than the rise in temperatures, the data are equally frightening. The national debt will surpass $9 trillion later this year, making interest payments on the debt one of the federal government's largest expenditures. But this only represents the tip of an iceberg that isn't melting. When obligations for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are included, our government's total unfunded commitment has skyrocketed from $20 trillion just six years ago to $50 trillion today - a number that equates to 95 percent of our citizens' net worth and about $440,000 per household. U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, our nation's chief accountant, reports that our financial condition is "worse than advertised" and that we not only face deficits in our budget and our savings, but also in our leadership.

Neither of these problems will be addressed with easy solutions - they demand a fundamental rethinking of our energy system and our budgetary choices. Almost everyone in Washington knows that both of these issues are very real threats to our future, but most find it easier to hide behind partisan politics than to deal with serious solutions. Like most Americans, we are eager for presidential candidates from both parties to have the courage to speak candidly about specific solutions regarding these challenges. We know that doing so may contradict the advice of political consultants to play it safe with timid ideas, but these threats have been ignored for too long.

South Carolina is still nine months away from voting in the presidential primaries, and candidates are in the process of developing their policy positions. All candidates will pitch to voters why America will be better off under their leadership. That determination will largely rest on a candidate's willingness and vision to solve the pressing challenges posed by our climate and fiscal crises. As our unity here demonstrates, these are not partisan issues: They are moral ones.

Ms. Timberlake has worked on conservation issues in South Carolina for nearly three decades. Mr. Walldorf is a businessman and former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Mark Sanford.