Kennedy jr.: Green policy = Good economical policy

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is criticising the Bush administration’s irresponsible policy toward both the environment and the economy, and is casting his hopes for a green economy.  Next week he´ll be participating at the climate conference CC9 in Norway.

The American environmentalist comes to Norway to be a key note speaker at the Climate Conference 09 (CC9), arranged by Club of Madrid, the utility company Hafslund and the Bellona Foundationa on the 4th and 5th of June.

The conference is titled «Green Technology and Finance – Striking a Fair Climate Deal», and will be held at Hafslund Manor in Sarpsborg.

Green Economy
Environmental questions and economy are issues that occupy Kennedy jr.. In a recent interview with Norwegian TV Channel TV2 (watch interview - external link) he states that green policy is a prerequisite for – as well as a consequence of – good economical policy:

– Good environmental policy a hundred per cent of the time is identical to good economical policy. We ought to be measuring the economy based upon how it produces jobs and the dignity of jobs, over the generations, over the long term, how it preserves the value of the assets of our community.

Our children must pay
Kennedy is part of the Democratic party, and a devoted supporter of president Barack Obama. He´s a strong criticiser of the Bush administration´s irresponsible policy, which he places in the opposite corner of a healthy, green economy:

– If we wanted to do what the Bush administration urged us to do for eight years, which is to treat the planet as if it were a business in liquidation, convert our national researches to cash as quickly as possible, and have a few years with pollution based prosperity – we can generate instantaneous cash flow and the illusion of a prosperous economy. But our children are going to pay for our joy ride.

Heaven and hell
The way Kennedy sees it, today´s polluting way of producing and using energy is in many ways irrational:

– Right now we have a marketplace that is designed to reward the dirtiest, filthiest, most destructive, most poisonous, most expensive fuels from hell – rather than the cheap, clean, green and friendly fuels from heaven.

He has great hope for what president Obama may achive in the years ahead:

– I am very optimistic. Obama is one of the five best presidents we’ve had in American history, says Kennedy jr. to TV2, elaborating by adding:

– It´s his capacity to handle crisis, his understanding and his curiosity – which I think is his best asset.

Hero of the planet
Kennedy founded and now chairs the Waterkeeper Alliance, an organisation working to improve water quality in the US and elsewhere in the world. His work to save the Hudson River led to the establishment of more than 160 Waterkeeper organisations and to him being named one of the “Heroes for the Planet” by TIME Magazine in 1999.

In his work as a lawyer, Kennedy handles cases for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the largest environmental organisations in the US. The NRDC is known as a solution-oriented and competent player in the environmental field.

Kennedy jr. is a professor at Pace University School of Law. He is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, former US Attorney General and one of the closest advisors to the late US president John F. Kennedy, who was Kennedy jr.´s uncle.