By Brett Rosenberg
February 1, 2010

The U. S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting closed with a speech by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. whose spirited remarks ran the gamut of environmental issues. Spanning local, mayoral efforts to improve natural, green infrastructure to a nationwide smart electrical grid that would connect wind turbines and solar arrays to power America's cities, Kennedy spoke in terms narrow and broad of the need to see past partisanship to move the country toward an energy independent, "de-carbonized" existence.

Kennedy, the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, President of Waterkeeper Alliance, and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, said, "I think the worst thing that could happen to the environment is that it becomes the province of a single party," and commented on how he considers the eight years of the previous presidential administration to be the worst in history for the environment. Said Kennedy, "I wrote a book about it. Had it been a Democratic administration, I would have written the same book." He commended the U.S mayors' abilities to work together, particularly on climate change and other environmental issues, citing how mayors came together to represent the U.S. during the Copenhagen climate talks last December. He congratulated the bi-partisan group of over 1,000 mayors who have signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

In his remarks, Kennedy also suggested that the first decade of the 21st century has been transformational in the sense that personal awareness and private capital have inspired a new wave of entrepreneurship. Stating that economic prosperity versus environmental quality is a "false choice," Kennedy said that "the illusion of progress at the expense of our children" is giving way to alternative energy forms on the verge of displacing carbon-based fossil fuels such as coal and oil. The illusion of progress, according to Kennedy, is the fact that the true cost of a carbon-based economy have been borne by society as a whole while subsidized corporations have prospered greatly.

The true costs of pollution become more apparent daily, according to Kennedy, for example, by an ever-increasing number of asthma cases brought about by soot particulates from tailpipes, by the lifeless lakes in the northeast U.S., destroyed by acid rain caused by burning coal, or the massive military apparatus necessary to protect our Mideast oil interests. As awareness of these costs take hold, Kennedy said that despite what many think, "the free market is the best thing that can happen to the environment," because in a true free market, unimpeded by subsidies and special interests, the various actors will behave in a way that eliminates the costs and risks associated with pollution. The profit incentive, therefore, will lead toward greener technologies at lower costs.

These green technologies, said Kennedy, not only will lead to energy independence and "de-carbonization" but also will change the "entire dynamic," much as the interstate highway system did half a century ago. Instead of "fighting both sides of the war on terror," as Kennedy put it, as the economic recovery continues and new technologies come on line, the U.S. should be able to implement on a massive scale what has been happening in the nation's cities for years: green jobs, clean power and healthier natural environments.