Last Thursday, I covered a press conference at the Ferry Building in San Francisco that was hosted by President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force. The group is comprised of 24 officials from various government agencies, and they were given 180 days to devise a national policy on preserving and cleaning up the U.S. coasts. The press conference was held to introduce the group’s interim report, which it had 90 days to create. Now there’s a 90-day public comment period, at the end of which the group’s formal recommendation will reach the White House.
The funny thing about this press conference was that the reporters kept trying to get the officials to trash talk the Bush Administration. Fact we’ve known for decades about climate change and the role that preserving the oceans plays in mitigating it. That we’re just now getting a national ocean conservation policy is pretty pathetic, and the interim report is a big deal in coastal cities like San Francisco. So it was funny to see what soundbites the TV reporters decided they wanted and the extent to which they tried to pry them out of the presenters.
First, a TV reporter latched onto the phrase “sea change.” The administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mentioned a “sea change” in the way Americans think about climate change and the oceans, which was just so gosh darn pun-tastic that the TV reporter not only asked her to repeat her point numerous times until he got the perfect sea-change soundbite, he also stood on the beach and began his live stand-up feed with a line about sea changes. We had the 5 o’clock news on at the office and I immediately thought, “Oh no, not the sea change guy again.” Eh TV reporters.
Second, the reporters wanted to know why a national ocean policy hadn’t been developed sooner. We were all hoping for the honest and obvious answer, which we knew we wouldn’t get, but still, it was fun to dream. My fantasy involved the White House administrator standing behind the podium and saying pleasantly, “Well President Bush was a cretin who rejected not only science, but common sense, and refused to acknowledge one of the most soundly demonstrated and widely accepted truisms of the late 20th Century. Plus preservation of anything that sits atop oil is not a priority for Texans, but now that we have a president who cares about the world — instead of just praising the God that allegedly created it – we can begin work on a long overdue national ocean policy.”
Of course things did not play out that way, but it was satisying that the oceanic administrator’s diplomatic answer was accompanied by a tone that clearly said, ”Trust me, guys, I think it’s about f-ing time too.” Previous policies, she said, were based on the mistaken world view that the oceans are boundless and infinitely resilient. Although she didn’t explicitly say, “Because that moron pretended climate change wasn’t real for eight years,” she did say, “Americans want safe, healthy seafood, clean beaches, good jobs, abundant wildlife, vibrant coastal communities and clean energy. That’s not what we have today.” Unfortunately it was impossible for me to capture her tone in my article, so I guess the TV reporter was able to one-up me on that.
On the way back to the office from the press conference, I stumbled upon a Michael Moore rally. More on that soon.
1 Comment
October 5, 2009 at 3:57 am
Americans want safe, healthy seafood, clean beaches, good jobs, abundant wildlife, vibrant coastal communities and clean energy. That’s not what we have today.
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Is this true? I feel like the Americans who give two shits about the environment are a hopeless minority.