President Trump and First Lady Test Positive For Coronavirus, Amazon: Nearly 20,000 Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus, The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Weakening Democracy Around the World, Report Finds, You can unsubscribe at any time. With these facts in hand, Reagan’s landslide victory over Carter in the 1980 election takes on a tragic dimension: Carter had acted on every other CEQ report issued in the previous four years with aggressive legislation and executive orders. Gains made under Carter’s presidential leadership in the early 1980s might have bought the planet precious time. Jimmy Carter’s example suggests that looking over the horizon might light our path to a better future—but also that, without political victory, the chance to realize that future can easily slip away. After being burned in effigy in Alaska, he received only 26% of the statewide vote in the 1980 presidential election. Among his first acts was the fulfillment of a campaign promise by issuing an executive order declaring unconditional amnesty for Vietnam War-era draft evaders, Proclamation 4483. It took a while for public opinion to catch up to him. One recommendation—covered in the very last paragraph of a New York Times story that ran on page A13—encouraged industrialized nations to reach agreement on the safe maximum level of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Bush, the U.S. government would view global warming as largely unworthy of study, much less action. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Climate Change Was on the Ballot With Jimmy Carter in 1980—Though No One Knew It at the Time. Carter had been a nuclear engineer in the Navy and—while other politicians played golf—he spent his spare time reading scientific publications. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter was running for reelection against former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Joe Biden was the first senator to endorse Carter for president in 1976, when Carter ran a campaign based on “healing” after the Watergate scandal and promised not to lie. Biden is running on similar themes and has introduced an ambitious program to combat climate change and create millions of green jobs. Copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Alter. In 1972, when he was governor of Georgia, he underlined path-breaking articles in the journal Nature about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Then came 25 years of stop-and-start efforts under administrations of both parties, followed by a return to denial under Trump. There are lessons here for the present. By signing up you are agreeing to our, What Stereotypes About Viking Masculinity Get Wrong, Trump's Debt Is a Threat, Ex Intel Officials Warn, Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2020 TIME USA, LLC. When he became President, Carter was the first global leader to recognize the problem of climate change. Instead, for the next 12 years, under Reagan and George H.W. But there was one big environmental issue he didn’t have time to confront—a challenge that was unknown then outside the scientific community but would eventually become of critical importance around the world. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter. ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter marked his 96th birthday Thursday, the latest milestone for the longest-lived of the 44 men to hold the highest American office. This year’s wildfires and hurricanes leave no doubt that climate change is a key issue in November’s election, but 2020 is hardly the first time the environment has been on the ballot. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images . He also protected California’s redwood forest and 100 million acres in the Alaska Lands bill, which doubled the size of the National Park Service. Now, solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity in the United States. When he visited that year, his speech was interrupted five times for standing ovations. In fact, the future of the planet was at stake in the presidential contest as early as 40 years ago—but no one knew it at the time. But by 2000, a billion-dollar tourism industry had blossomed there, and polls showed residents favored Carter’s landmark achievement. The large-scale burning of oil, coal and other fossil fuels could lead to “widespread and pervasive changes in global climatic, economic, social, and agricultural patterns,” the CEQ report concluded with great prescience. In 1977, scratching his itch as a planner and steward of the earth, he commissioned the Global 2000 Report to the President, an ambitious effort to explore environmental challenges and the prospects of “sustainable development” (a new phrase) over the next 20 years. Carter was a political failure—confronted with a bad economy, the Iran hostage crisis, a divided Democratic Party and a talented challenger in Reagan—but he was a substantive and visionary success. In 1979, Carter placed solar panels on the roof of the West Wing of the White House. President Trump, 74, has spent months resisting public health recommendations to wear a face mask, despite top officials stressing the importance of coverings to slow the spread of the virus. By Jonathan … 5860 aka Public Law 96-185 known as The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979, bailing out Chrysler Corporation with $3.5 billion (equivalent to $10.86 billion in 2019) in aid. The report, written by Gus Speth, Carter’s top aide on the environment, urged “immediate action” and included calculations on CO2 emissions in the next decades that proved surprisingly accurate.

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