The global politics of climate change

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Developed and developing countries face off over how to create an environmentally and economically friendly way to clear the air.

The political climate has changed. Republican John McCain agrees with Democrat Barack Obama that the US must play a leading role in cooling down mother earth. But they don’t exactly agree on how to turn down the temperature. And the winner of the election will face stormy skies next year as the world tries to hammer out a successor to the contentious Kyoto accord. Developed and developing countries are facing off over how to create an environmentally and economically friendly way to clear the air. The negotiations threaten to be a carbon copy of the last standoff over who has to reign in their emissions. It’s not easy being green.

- Ray Suarez explores the approaches of the two presidential candidates to the threat of climate change

- Deborah Amos traces the history of the science and growing public awareness of climate change in the 20th century.

- Ray Suarez looks back at the Clinton Administration’s role in the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol.

-Deborah Amos takes us to New Delhi to examine the challenges faced by the developing world in adapting to a warming climate.

Guests in this program include:
- Jason Grumet, Chair of the Obama campaign’s Environment and Energy Policy Committee
- Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Senior Policy Advisor to the McCain campaign
- Dr. Robert Stavins, Director of the Environmental Economics Program at Harvard University
- Dr. William Antholis, Managing Director of the Brookings Institution.
- Dr. Spencer Weart, Director of the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics
- Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, former Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs
- Gene Sperling, National Economic Advisor to President Clinton
- Congressman James Sensenbrenner, former Chairman of the House Science Committee
- Ambassador Raul Estrada Oyuela, Chairman of the Kyoto Conference
- Dr. Ashok Khosla, Chairman of the Development Alternatives Group
- Anumita Roychowdhury, Associate Director of the Center for Science and Environment
- Dr. Leena Srivastava, Executive Director of the Energy and Resource Institute
- Nitin Desai, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

Hosted by a team of prominent news broadcasters that includes Ray Suarez, Marvin Kalb, Steve Roberts, Garrick Utley, and Margaret Warner, "America Abroad" examines key issues in international affairs and U.S. foreign policy.

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