03 April 2009
This Week from Washington – April 3
Podcast on U.S.-Russia ties, human rights, “green” work force training
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This week, seeking a new course in U.S.-Russian relations; promoting human rights through the United Nations; and training the next generation for a green economy.
President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have announced plans for new cuts in their nuclear weapons arsenals as the two countries seek a new course in U.S.-Russian relations. During a joint appearance with the Russian president in London on April 1st, Obama said U.S.- Russian relations had been allowed to drift over recent years, but that today there is new progress in the relationship.
The current 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires December 5, 2009. The new talks, if successful, could further reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to 1,500 warheads apiece or fewer, and make comparable reductions in delivery vehicles such as ballistic missiles and submarines.
As owners of more than 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, Obama said, the United States and Russia will lead by example, taking concrete steps toward the long-term diplomatic goal of disarmament. He also said it sends a powerful message to countries such as Iran, whose controversial nuclear program is currently subject to three rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions supported by the White House and the Kremlin.
The meeting between Obama and Medvedev is the result of weeks of intensive diplomacy to “press the reset button” on U.S.-Russian relations. The two leaders issued a joint statement that set out a new U.S.-Russian agenda, aimed at moving beyond a reset and toward actual achievements. In addition to arms control, several other top priorities were identified by the two leaders. These included efforts to address the global financial crisis, stabilize South Asia and support progress toward Middle East peace. Future meetings will include discussion of transnational threats such as terrorism, organized crime, corruption and drug trafficking, as well as ways to strengthen U.S.-Russian economic ties and cultural exchanges.
Since taking office in January, Obama has exchanged letters and phone calls with Medvedev. Relations had been chilled in recent years by differences over Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia, NATO enlargement and the future of European security, and a proposed European-based ballistic missile defense system. But since Obama’s inauguration, senior leaders on both sides have sought advice on repairing relations. Obama and Biden held a private meeting with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, while Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with a delegation of American “wise men” led by former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz along with former Senator Sam Nunn and former Defense Secretary William Perry. Another former secretary of state, James Baker, also traveled to Moscow in recent weeks.
Obama accepted Medvedev’s invitation to visit Moscow in July, when the two leaders will assess negotiators’ progress in working out the new arms control pact.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice announced March 31 that the United States will seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council this year. Clinton said that human rights are an essential element of American foreign policy and America will engage with others to advance the vision of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.
The Human Rights Council is made up of 47 elected members. Its mission is to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The next round of council elections will be May 15 in the U.N. General Assembly, when members will be elected to three-year terms. The council was created in March 2006 to replace the largely dysfunctional U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The United States chose not to join the council when it was created, but began participating as an observer in March to begin addressing violations of human rights worldwide.
Rice said working within the council is a more effective way to promote and protect human rights. In a conference call with journalists, Rice said the United States sees no benefit by being critical of the council from the outside without having significant influence on its decisions. State Department officials said the decision to seek a seat on the Human Rights Council reinforces the Obama administration’s focus on a new era of engagement with other nations.
Other officials and dignitaries welcomed the announcement. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it marked “a concrete embodiment of the U.S. commitment to a ‘new era of engagement.’” The current president of the Human Rights Council, Nigerian Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi also welcomed the move, saying he is confident that American participation would continue to provide valuable input. The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard Berman, said the United States has stayed on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council for too long.
A large part of President Obama’s economic stimulus package includes billions of dollars for renewable energy projects. The money will fund home weatherization, energy-efficiency grants, and tax breaks for wind and solar companies. As a result, many American colleges and universities are welcoming the growing interest in clean energy and green jobs with programs that prepare students for work in the renewable-energy and energy-efficiency industry.
The nonprofit American Solar Energy Society says there are currently more than 9 million jobs related to renewable energy and energy efficiency, and it forecasts that 37 million such jobs will be in the United States by 2030. A big question is who will train such large numbers of people for green jobs? Community colleges are one answer, according to a report from the National Council for Workforce Education and the Academy for Education Development.
One such school is Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, cited as a model of commitment to environmental stewardship and a leader in green work force training. Lane has about 38,000 students. Almost 30 years ago it created an energy management program that until recently was the only program of its kind. It originally focused on energy efficiency, then expanded to include renewable energy and water conservation. In the fall of 2009, Lane will start a resource conservation management program.
Lane’s associate degree program has tripled in enrollment over the last three years, and virtually all graduates are placed in related jobs. School officials have reported a huge increase in interest in green jobs. Lane Community College President Mary Spilde says that before, it was simply fashionable to be sustainable and green. But now, there’s something deeper related to the sustainability effort and how it contributes to economic, social and environmental justice.
Sustainability is something that students are pushing, Spilde says. The impulse comes from more and more students demanding that colleges lessen their carbon footprint and pay attention to these ideas.
Lane was one of the earliest colleges to sign the President’s Climate Commitment, pledging to be carbon neutral in the future.
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