The most important thing Sarkozy said
The French Prime Minister's Grenelle "public consultation" on the environment isn't over yet, and we're all struggling with conflicting reports about what has been decided and how it will be implemented. We're waiting until the dust settles, the meeting actually ends, and the outcomes are announced to issue an official line on the whole package.
But yesterday I heard the following words come out of the mouth of the leader of a G8 country:
"From now on," said Nicolas Sarkozy, "every major public project, every public decision will be judged on its effect on climate, and on its carbon cost. Each public decision will be judged on how it affects bio-diversity. The onus won't be on ecological decisions to prove their merit, but on non-ecological projects to prove they can't be done any other way. Non-ecological decisions must be taken as a last resort. It's a total revolution in the way we govern our country."
And I, literally, stood up and cheered.
I don't care what part of the political spectrum those words come from.
I don't care how difficult the decisions to implement those words are going to be.
I don't care how disappointed we will inevitably be with the speed with which those words will become reality.
Those are the words we have been asking to hear from a leader for decades.
And those are the words we need to hear other leaders taking up.
It's all about the action that results, of course, and I'm under no illusion that we're going to have to push hard to see this move forward at the pace it needs to.
But tonight, I'll raise a glass to Nicolas Sarkozy. The French Energy [r]Evolution has begun.
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Comments
yes, it flips the idea of economics around and puts the true costs up front where they belong... living here in France as i do i think the people will support this... dealing with the unions of course will be tricky
Posted by: maxkeiser | October 26, 2007 3:42 PM
Amazing. I never thought I would see the day when the president of a nation would say anything like this. This comes as a breath of fresh air for us Spaniards, who are still hurting from the stupid declarations by the leader of the oposition a couple of days ago, in which he made clear that he doesn´t have a clue on what climate change is, by relating it to weather forecasts.
This made my day. Now let´s hope it´s not only words.
Posted by: ágata | October 26, 2007 6:49 PM
I join you in toasting every community leader who is taking a position on its governmental green behavior. Mayor M. Bloomberg enacted the very controversial Local Law 86 mandating City funded projects be built to LEED standards (not that they had to gothrought the LEED certification process but just to meet the goals. Every leader wields the power to turn off multiple switches - independently we can each choose to turn off one power supply and collectively we will improve.
Posted by: Catherine Barton | October 26, 2007 8:19 PM
That IS good news! Every time I see another box store going up where a grove of trees or a prairie field used to be I think how ridiculously sad it is that the people with the direct power to stop these things from happening, by enacting a bill and saying No, that's not how we're going to do it any more, don't do it because they care more about economics and forget the cost to the environment. It's so wonderful to hear that a world leader has realized that a thriving ecosystem is so much more important.
Posted by: Leah Share | October 30, 2007 2:19 PM
Don't forget his final solution : Nuclear !!!
Don't let sweet words stop your brain.
Please visit :
www.sortirdunucleaire.org
www.greenpeace.org / .fr
Best regards
Mata
Posted by: Patricia Maihota | October 30, 2007 6:15 PM