In his speech last week, Seeking Pathways for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change, John Podesta once again addressed the fact that the US and China need to begin acting as one to address the issues we face going forward.

His focus was “global warming” by name, but the topics he covered were varied: air pollution, water management, agriculture, and transportation, and like many speeches I have heard lately, it was balanced:

I recognize that the United States has in this bilateral collaboration solemn responsibility both as the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases and because our emissions are still more than four times that of China on a per capita basis. But both of our countries must be guided by what the science is telling us and take actions commensurate with science

and at times… to the point:

This leadership is a great start, but more must be done. We can’t let our immediate need for economic stimulus overshadow our global, long-term goals. Under the guise of immediate economic aid, many countries are scaling back their emission-cutting and renewable energy plans. You cannot let China follow that trend.

Recent reports say that the Chinese government has cut green aspects of the economic recovery package by 40 percent. The government has also announced plans to cut the time needed for projects to assess environmental impact from five days to a mere two days. These are worrisome signs.

… and while definately a speech that included more honestly than most, I am still left to wonder when we are going to move past the rhetoric and ongoing debate about who did what and who needs to act first, and jsut start working together.

It is something that I guess is only all the more frustrating because both governments are acting and investments are being made on both sides that are great first steps. however, they are not coordinated, and sadly were both sides effectively working together, the impact of these investments could be much greater.