In a Harvard Law School classroom today, Senator John Kerry (D – Mass.) stressed the urgency of the climate change problem, arguing that the federal government needs to take action immediately to combat global warming.
“We have to move faster…we have about a ten year window to try to get this right, which means we have to start moving now,” Kerry said, explaining that the government should allocate more funds towards developing alternative energy sources. “There is a complete disconnect between the reality of what’s happening in people’s economies and the reality of what the scientists are telling us.”
Kerry said that although the climate change issue is at the forefront of the 2008 presidential campaign, there are still significant barriers to passing legislation in Congress. Nonetheless, he said, he is introducing a bill that would reduce emissions in the U.S. by 80% through an emissions trading program.
Kerry was invited to campus to speak to Visting Professor Roger Ballentine’s class, “The Law of Climate Change.” The event was co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Program, the Environmental Law Review, the Environmental Law Society, and the HLS Democrats.