ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the 'golden age' of environmental policy. It discusses the politics of climate change in the US over the last two decades. The chapter focuses on the policy record on climate change and the environment of the two most recent US Presidents prior to Barack Obama, namely William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton and George W. Bush. Climate change and global warming are a clear and present threat and they are caused by the vast amounts of greenhouse gases that human beings have been pumping into the world's atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution by their continuing use of fossil fuels. Bill Clinton used his executive authority to set up the Council on Sustainable Development (CSD) to advise him on bold, new approaches to achieving our economic, environmental and equity goals. The Bush administration's antipathy to climate change and environmental policy is neatly summarised in the phrase drill baby drill.
