Former Clinton Aide Maps Energy Plan

Looking at a projected map of the world at night, progressive energy advocate John Podesta told a standing-room-only crowd in Science Center A that inequality is visible from space.

“You can see where the lights are on and where the lights don’t exist,” Podesta said.

Using the map, which showed America and Europe as brightly lit and much of the rest of world as dim or entirely dark, Podesta assessed differences between developed and developing world patterns of energy use.

Podesta, the president and CEO of the Center for Progress, a liberal Washington think tank, gave his talk entitled Fueling the Future, as part of the Harvard Center for the Environment’s series, The Future of Energy. In his lecture, he focused on the economic, moral, and environmental importance of reconsidering current policies on energy and development, arguing that disasters will result if energy policies do not change.

“We are quickly approaching what is known as a tipping point,” Podesta said.

Central to his argument was the idea that developing nations disproportionately suffer the consequences of developed countries’ wasteful energy policies. Podesta said that the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, largely too poor to afford the fossil fuels that power most of the developed world, bore the brunt of the climatic change caused by the burning of oil. These countries suffer famine due to lowered rainfall and crop yields as a result of climate change.

Podesta, a former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, criticized the failures of the Bush Administration to address environmental concerns in its response to the energy crisis.

“President Bush has governed in a fact-free zone,” he said.

Podesta argued for a model that combined profitability with environmental responsibility, demonstrating the economic feasibility of various renewable energy schemes, especially biofuel initiatives. These programs provide cheaper fuel to consumers and stimulate the agricultural sector, he said.

The large, mostly older audience received Podesta’s conclusions enthusiastically, echoing his sentiments in a lengthy question and answer session following the lecture.

“It transcends the partisan line. We need to address this issue,” said Andrew J. Martell ’06, one of the few undergraduates in attendance.