May 12, 2007

Dear Senator Obama,

I’m a successful high tech entrepreneur and nationally recognized philanthropist.

I’m also a generous supporter of Democratic candidates. In 2000, I donated close to $10 million to help Gore win. That was more money than anyone else in the country gave to any candidate. I’ve also donated over $1M to the DSCC, DCCC, and DNC.

In this election, a Presidential candidate hasn’t emerged who I can get passionate about. I want to tell you why.

For me, it boils down a simple question of leadership. Global warming is the single most important issue of our lifetime. Our top climate scientist, James Hansen, has said that the faster and deeper we cut our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the next 10 years, the better our chances of averting a tipping point where the temperature rises every year at an ever increasing rate and we are completely powerless to stop it no matter what we do. Dramatic progress in the next 10 years is absolutely critical. If we do not make substantial cuts in the next 10 years, then our mitigation options disappear as David Hawkins of NRDC pointed out to me.

If you were diagnosed with cancer and the best doctors in the country told you that you must treat it as aggressively and as quickly as possible in order to save your life, do you do less than they suggest? Sadly, that is what we are doing now. The Sanders-Boxer bill which you support doesn’t go far enough in the required reductions in next 10 years. It’s a start, but it’s far from the best our country can do. It is less than our leading scientists say we can and should do.

The leading experts that I have consulted concur that a 30% reduction by 2020 is both technically and politically achievable. In fact, it isn’t much higher than California law now requires. In addition, there is a group of our top scientists that will be meeting in June to lay out the details on the best way to achieve this goal.

I have three questions for you:

1.      Will you adopt a goal of cutting GHG emissions by at least 30% from 2007 levels by 2020 and encouraging other nations to do the same?

2.      Will you make this goal a centerpiece of your campaign?

3.      Are you willing to set a goal for the US higher than the 30% that our leading experts say is achievable and inspire the US to achieve a higher goal than many think is possible? A tougher goal, if the rest of the world follows our lead, would allow us to stop temperatures from increasing at an ever increasing rate in less than 20 years (at which time they would still increase, but at a declining rate instead of an ever-increasing rate).

An aggressive goal has additional benefits:

1.      It would inspire the country to achieve more than experts think is possible, e.g., as JFK did in 1961;

2.      It would distinguish you from the other candidates;

3.      It would eliminate our dependence on foreign oil;

4.      It would improve our balance of trade (no more $ going overseas to pay for oil);

5.      It would strengthen our economy (RMI says a $180 billion total investment in reducing our dependence on foreign oil creates a $150 billion return per year!)

6.      It would improve our standing in world opinion;

7.      It would create millions of new jobs in America (California’s law is projected to save billions of dollars and create tens of thousands of new jobs);

8.      It would create products that can be exported to further improve our economy;

9.      It would allow us to secure, to the best of our ability, the long-term health and prosperity of our country and our world;

10.  It would modernize our economy and make the world more secure;

11.  It would free up billions of dollars that we now spend defending and subsidizing fossil fuels to spend on the nation's real priorities: health care, education, taking care of the aging population, etc.;

12. It would reduce pollution

13. It reduce the cost of fuel and electricity for all consumers

14. It would improve the safety of our automobiles while at the same time reducing their cost

15.  It would motivate hundreds of thousands of people to put their heart and soul into helping you win because there would finally be a candidate who is supporting a goal that is both important to them and worth fighting for.

In short, if we are to preserve the quality of life we now enjoy, we must have a President who has the courage to make an aggressive 10-year GHG reduction goal the nation’s top priority. We must have a President who will inspire and challenge us to rise to the greatest challenge of our lifetime and inspire other nations to follow. We must have a President who believes in America, who will invest in America, and who will allow us to do our best.  We need a President who has the courage to set a goal for America and stick with it, a goal that some will say we cannot achieve, and who will hold us accountable for achieving it. America desperately needs such a leader. Is that you?

In the Democratic Convention in San Diego, you were quoted as saying that you learned early in life that “when people rally around a goal they can achieve extraordinary things.”

That’s what we need now. We need a President who has the courage to set a strong, bold visionary goal that we can rally around – a goal that will both inspire America and the rest of the world. Because for this problem, we can’t give it just a good try. We must give it our best shot. And we need someone who has the courage to ask us to do our best.

Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely yours,

Steve Kirsch