As Congress prepares to debate possible emissions reduction legislation this spring, the conversation on climate change outside the Beltway is seemingly quite different. What are the key differences between policy initiatives and public perception of the climate change issue? A new campaign launched by the Alliance for Climate Protection will try to tackle this disparity by educating Americans at both the grassroots and national levels. During today's OnPoint, Alliance CEO Cathy Zoi, discusses the Alliance's campaign and gives her take on domestic climate policy discussions. She also explains what impact, she believes, the Alliance's efforts could have on the upcoming Presidential election.

Transcript

Monica Trauzzi: Welcome to OnPoint. I'm Monica Trauzzi. Joining me today is Cathy Zoi, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection and former environmental policy adviser in the Clinton White House. Cathy, thanks for coming on the show.

Cathy Zoi: My pleasure, Monica.

Monica Trauzzi: Cathy, the alliance was founded by former Vice President Al Gore and you have just launched this "We" campaign that is targeting the average American and trying to sort of educate them about climate change issues. Give us the highlights of what you're trying to do with this campaign?

Cathy Zoi: Well, here's the deal. We've got a really high level of awareness about climate change. Over 80 percent of Americans are now aware climate change is happening and that human beings are causing it. But that awareness hasn't translated into the appropriate sense of urgency that scientists tell us is required. Nor do people understand that it's actually a solvable issue nor are they asking candidates or voting on it as a top-tier issue. So, we've put together this campaign and it will probably take us several years to raise the level of urgency and solvability so that it becomes an issue that is important to everyday folks and that they translate that into getting our leaders to take appropriate action.

Monica Trauzzi: I guess the big question, and probably the most difficult, is why? Why is there such a disparity between what people know about climate change and what they're doing?

Cathy Zoi: Well, I think people are given lots and lots of messages in their day. There's lots of competing issues for their attention and, frankly, there's everyday issues in their lives that they have to deal with. What we are able to do is reach them in their daily lives. This is a fairly substantial campaign. It's a combination of paid media that's going to get into people's living rooms for the very first time on this climate change issue. Partnerships with community-based organizations, so folks in their daily lives, they're part of the scouts, they're part of a church community, whatever they're doing, we're partnering with those groups that are going to be talking about the "We" campaign, that climate change is urgent and solvable. And then both of those things are going to drive folks to a really interesting online presence, a hub online that is going to give people advice about what can you do? What can you do in your own life? But, more importantly, what do you need to do to make sure that your elected officials take action?

Monica Trauzzi: And it's a $300 million campaign and that's an unprecedented amount of money and it's a lot of money. Where is this money coming from and why is it going to take so much money to get this job done?

Cathy Zoi: Well, what we like to talk about, this is a commercial scale campaign. We are taking the lessons, the best lessons, from the private sector, social marketing, and the political world, again, to create some real interest. To do that, you have to be on television. The average American tends to watch 4 1/2 hours of television a day and I'm not sure that they're watching public-policy programs, but we're going to be on "American Idol." We're going to be on "Law and Order." We're going to be on the morning news programs with the facts, with the right information, and with the opportunity, the request, the invitation, join "We" we will give you the tools to reduce your own carbon footprint and, as I say, more importantly to make sure that our leaders in this country are taking the steps necessary. You asked where the money has come from, the seed funding has come very generously from Vice President and Tipper Gore. They have provided the proceeds that they received from the "Inconvenient Truth" movie and the book and the Nobel Peace Prize proceeds to get us going. The remainder of the money is coming from other private donors who share Vice President Gore's commitment to solving the climate crisis.

Monica Trauzzi: There are still many unknowns and many disagreements about how, on a policy front, how climate change should be approached. And I'm wondering if you're going to be sort of showing both sides of the story as you're trying to educate the public in these campaigns. Are they going to be understanding that there is a debate happening on the Hill and things of that nature?

Cathy Zoi: Well, our message is that it's both urgent and solvable. The scientists tell us we don't have much time to act. We need to get onto it. But the good news is we've got abundant technologies that are within our reach that we simply need to ramp up. And that, if we can get the majority of the American people understanding that, will probably let the folks inside Washington fight about the particulars about how to get it done. At this point, as I say, we have a high level of awareness, but a really low understanding of both of those, the urgency and solvability issues. So, our focus is going to be more on that education piece and let you guys worry about the particulars of the ins and outs of the policies.

Monica Trauzzi: So, it's safe to say that the average American pretty much doesn't really know about the ins and outs of the Lieberman-Warner bill or what's happening specifically in ...

Cathy Zoi: You can be quite sure that the average American does not know about Lieberman-Warner, about cap and trade and auction, about any number of the policy tools that are probably going to ... I mean it's going to be a combination of things likely that gets the job done. And, no, the average folks that we're reaching don't yet know about those.

Monica Trauzzi: And is there a specific piece of legislation that you support in your position? Is Lieberman-Warner the type of bill that you think we should be moving forward with?

Cathy Zoi: As I said, the alliance isn't getting involved in any particular legislative debate. What we're doing is taking our cues from the scientific community that says we need deep cuts in emissions by the middle of the next century. And if we can get that message across and that new laws are going to be required to get there and that this is the biggest economic opportunity of our generation, to grow a clean energy economy, to harness American innovation. If we can get those three messages across to a broad cross-section of people then I think that our political leaders will have the moral imagination, the capacity, and the commitment to get the job done.

Monica Trauzzi: And you spent many years in Australia, so I sort of want to get your take on the U.S./Australia relationship because both countries got a lot of heat when they didn't ratify Kyoto several years ago. And during last year's elections in Australia the public really put a major focus on climate change and voted into office Kevin Rudd and he has already taken steps in doing action on climate change.

Cathy Zoi: He's making it one of his defining issues of his prime ministership.

Monica Trauzzi: Yeah, and I believe in March they officially became ...

Cathy Zoi: Signatories.

Monica Trauzzi: ... became signatories of Kyoto. A couple of questions here. First off, based on the large emphasis on climate change in Australia's elections last year are you surprised by the lack of attention in the U.S. for this year's 2008 elections?

Cathy Zoi: I am, but, at the same time, what happened in Australia gives me great optimism for what we can get done here. I mean in Australia that were a combination of things some of which are taking place in this country and I'll put them in four categories. One is that we have Mother Nature's drumbeat. I mean everybody in Australia was affected by the drought, whether you lived in the country or the city. We haven't had that same comprehensive drumbeat that Australia has. We've had regional droughts. We've had wildfires. We've had severe storms that have all been linked by the scientists to climate change, but there hasn't been one overwhelming, prevailing thing that has united this country of 300 million as opposed to 22 million in Australia. So, we will help connect the dots. Another thing that we had in Australia when I was there is some business leadership. About a year and a half ago a half a dozen major companies called for a cap on emissions at the federal level, at a Commonwealth level. U.S. CAP is doing some of that same sort of thing here, but the relative impact of the few U.S. CAP companies compared to the size of the industry here is small. When six major companies do it in Australia, which is a much smaller economy, it had a big impact. I guess the other thing is in Australia there have been policies in place for a longer time that have given folks tangible experience with energy efficiency, with renewable energy. Australia had the first national green power program. So, there is a sense, in the Australian electorate, in the Australian people, that this is solvable. Americans don't yet understand that this is solvable and, again, part of what the alliance is going to do is make that clear to people. This is an opportunity to harness all of these new technologies. And then, I guess, finally there was an organization that I helped found when I was in Australia called The Climate Institute, whose purpose is just like the alliance's. And we got out there, in the leadup to the election, and with compelling messaging. Guess what, the alliance is going to try to do the same and reach into people's living rooms the same way. So, as I say, I'm optimistic that we can get there in this country. It's a bigger job because it's a bigger country, but it's the most important thing that any of us can do. If we can get the United States to finally assume a leadership position after eight years of inaction then we can get on with an international treaty.

Monica Trauzzi: So, do you believe that this campaign will have an impact in the presidential elections this year?

Cathy Zoi: I hope so. I hope so. I mean we've seen the news media not asking the presidential candidates very many questions about climate change. I mean I think I read it was eight questions out of 3200 or so that were asked. We hope that our efforts on primetime television, with grassroots organizations, and online spur the media to start asking more questions of the candidates so it becomes a top three voting issue, as it did in Australia.

Monica Trauzzi: Final question here. It's been very difficult for those countries who signed onto Kyoto to meet the targets, especially for the larger economies. What needs to change moving forward as we try to create a post-Kyoto treaty?

Cathy Zoi: I think we need to have a cap. We need to have investment in new technologies. It's going to be a combination of factors I think. I came from the solutions side of this. I've been working on clean tech stuff for the past sort of five years and what's frustrating to me is if there is a legal framework in place that requires us to be investing in clean energy, noncarbon polluting energy rather than the carbon polluting energy, we will get there. The business community will respond, but we need the rules of the playbook to change.

Monica Trauzzi: All right. We'll end it right there on that note. Thanks coming on the show.

Cathy Zoi: My pleasure.

Monica Trauzzi: This is OnPoint. I'm Monica Trauzzi. Thanks for watching.

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