Rep. Inslee Writes Book to Spark Action on Climate Change

By Kayla Webley

Washington - Outside Rep. Jay Inslee's office stands a large photo of a polar bear looking rather glum. The caption reads, "The impacts of climate change are ruining my home."

While there may not be polar bears in his district, Inslee, D-Wash., said global warming has hit too close to home.

As global warming has become a hotter issue, with recent media attention and Hollywood depictions of the enormity of the problem, Inslee has been writing his way toward a solution. In his forthcoming book, "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Revolution," Inslee offers tangible ways to fix the problem.

Washington state is faced with a decline in the alpine meadows in Mount Rainer and Olympic National Parks, increasing water temperature, reduced stream flows and declining snow pack combined with summer drought.

"We can't let people feel overwhelmed. They could just seize up and not act. We can't become frozen by this problem, we have to move," Inslee said in an interview Monday in his Capitol Hill office. "That's what this book is about. It's really trying to build confidence in our abilities in America to develop a new clean-energy future."

The book, which he wrote with Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at Center for American Progress here, is being edited and should be released in early fall. The book highlights companies and individuals, many of them in Washington state, already working to make a difference. The authors said they wanted to include citizens in the process, not just policy makers.

"We felt it was more important than trying to scare people into action," Hendricks said. "We need to inspire them to action. ... What is at stake is a huge economic and social opportunity if we can rise to the challenge." Though the book's release is still months away, Inslee wants Congress to tackle global warming right now.

He introduced the New Apollo Project designed to invigorate the economy while providing fixes to global warming, he said. The bill would cap carbon dioxide emissions and provide a trade system for them, which would require industries to limit their emissions or pay others with lower emissions. The bill would also require the use of more renewable energy sources, give manufacturers incentives to make plug-in hybrid vehicles and generally improve energy efficiency.

Some Democrats would like delay legislation to address global warming until a more environmentally friendly president is in office, Inslee said, or at least until next year when they could use it as leverage against Republican candidates.

"Mother Nature does not pay attention to the election cycle," Inslee said. "We just don't have two years of luxury here. We should be aggressive and assertive and quick. Delay is often an excuse for inaction."

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire