Even in death, former President Jimmy Carter added to his legacy of public service. His example fortified us for the challenge of standing up for climate action in the face of Trump’s swift moves to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, again.
Through the many tellings of his life story, as he lay in state in Plains, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., Americans relearned two important lessons from Jimmy Carter. First, from his one-term presidency – and especially from the example of the solar water-heating panels that he installed on the White House roof only to see them removed by Ronald Reagan – we learned that there will be setbacks. But second, from Carter’s long post-presidency, we learned that one can lead from many different positions and places in society.
With his second inauguration, President Donald Trump has already begun to deliver on his threats to quickly reverse or block parts of President Biden’s ambitious climate agenda. But because climate change will not slow, climate action must not stop. Jimmy Carter showed us that one can also lead from boardrooms, classrooms, construction sites, farm fields, libraries, polling places, and Sunday schools. And from these locations, one can influence, at least indirectly, what happens in Washington. While the pace may be slow – one could say glacial – we still make progress.
New book covers progress, and setbacks, across 60 years of climate politics
Chelsea Henderson, author of “Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics.” (Image credit: Ryan Corvello)
In “Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics,” Chelsea Henderson steps back in time to chronicle the highs and lows of climate policy from the 1960s to today. Her tale is just getting started when, seven years after their installation, Ronald Reagan removes Jimmy Carter’s solar water heater panels from the roof of the White House. Her takeaway message echoes the media profiles of Jimmy Carter: In politics, progress is often accompanied by setbacks.
Chelsea Henderson was able to write “the inside story” of the last six decades of climate politics in the United States because she played several roles in that story for almost half its run and because, as a result, she was able to interview key players during the decades she was not.
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Her work alongside several Republicans on the Hill offers a unique vantage point. Henderson served as senior policy adviser for Sen. John Warner, a Republican of Virginia, and as professional staff to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee when it was chaired by Republican Sen. John Chafee of Rhode Island and then by Republican Sen. Bob Smith of Vermont. Henderson also worked for environmentally-minded companies and advocacy groups seeking to shape climate policy on the Hill.
Henderson presents her “inside story” in eight parts, which are subdivided into short chapters of two to 10 pages. The organization and prose style of the book no doubt reflect Henderson’s experience working for representatives, senators, and chief executives. These very busy people want to consume information in easily digested portions. Henderson’s chapters are short, clearly written, artfully engaging, and logically sequenced. Her book is a brisk read.
A who’s who of climate heroes, and villains
“Glacial” begins with the first president to commission a report on climate change, which, contrary to some recent news profiles, was not Jimmy Carter but Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Richard Nixon didn’t follow Johnson’s lead on climate change, but he did sign the legislation that created environmental governance and regulation as we know it today. He was forced into his environmental leadership, Henderson notes, by a Democratic Congress, a high-profile oil spill off the coast of California, a burning river (the Cuyahoga caught fire for the 13th time (!) in 1969), and a public galvanized by the first Earth Day. Gerald Ford finished Nixon’s second term, and then we got Jimmy “Wear a Sweater” Carter and “Remove the Panels” Ronald Reagan.
After this opening run of five presidents, Henderson’s focus shifts to Congress where the story is parsed by decades. Now the setbacks become regular. Pressure for action builds in the House and/or Senate, often in response to public engagement, but is then dissipated or redirected by the White House.
Both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush abandoned campaign pledges to address climate change. And George W. Bush and Donald Trump both renounced international agreements that had been negotiated in part by their Democratic predecessors: the Kyoto Protocol advised by Vice President Al Gore and the Paris Agreement facilitated by President Barack Obama.
When these public setbacks occurred on the White House stage, work continued in the halls of Congress. Henderson recounts the many stories of congressional representatives and senators, long-term legislative staffers, policymakers in federal agencies and departments, and the directors and staff of environmental nonprofits who kept crafting laws, policies, and rules that could address the causes and consequences of climate change.
These stories have their own heroes and villains. Among the heroes were Representatives Bob Inglis (R-SC), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Henry Waxman (D-CA); Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT), John McCain (R-AZ), and Tim Wirth (D-CO); and Rafe Pomerance, who worked for Friends of Earth and World Resources Institute before being tapped by President Clinton for deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and development. Among the enemies were the fossil fuel companies, including their CEOS and lobbyists – and the politicians they financed, like Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Hero or villain, Henderson deftly portrays their appearance and character when she introduces them to her readers, often with touches of humor.
After several decades, and after repeated attempts with different combinations of allies, strategies, and tactics, a truly significant piece of climate legislation did become law. Henderson’s final chapters recount the stressful negotiations behind the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 and then celebrates – in a chapter aptly titled “BFD” – this landmark accomplishment of President Joe Biden.
What happens when the climate policy historian turns her gaze to the future?
When Henderson submitted her manuscript to her publisher in August of 2023, she did not know that Donald Trump would win the 2024 election, nor that Jimmy Carter would lie in state in the Capitol rotunda just days before Trump was inaugurated. What, we wondered, did she think would happen in the next chapter of “The Inside Story of Climate Politics?”
After taking time to recover from the shock of the election, the author responded to an emailed inquiry. The most important challenge, she said, was “how to preserve the progress made under Biden and minimize the damage of having a climate denier in the White House.” The rest she sorted into pluses and minuses.
The minuses were stark, starting with the hit to America’s global reputation.
“Obviously, it’s not a good look for the historically largest emitter to again have a denier leading [on policy],” she wrote. And if Project 2025 is implemented, Henderson added, “the risks to NOAA, NASA, and National Weather Service, etc. … are unfathomable.”
But she did see some pluses. Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, former congressman of New York, Lee Zeldin, a Republican, “gets that climate change is real.” And many Republican lawmakers are asking their leadership “to slow roll” the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act; in fact, several members want to preserve at least some portions of the bill.
Which is to say that it may be harder for Trump to remove Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act than it was for Reagan to remove Carter’s solar water heater panels. The IRA could continue to strengthen one of the more slender threads Henderson weaves into her inside story: the emergence of conservative climate activism.
And that’s where Henderson, whose book provides navigation charts for the turbulent political straits in which we find ourselves, will continue her own climate activism. She now serves as director of editorial content for republicEn.org, the group formed by former GOP congressional representative Bob Inglis of South Carolina, for which she produces and hosts the podcast, The EcoRight Speaks.
We know who will play the villain in the next chapter of American climate politics; the next heroes could emerge from any walk of life.
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