Lethal Trajectories (39 page)

Clayton pondered this before responding. “As long as I can integrate the guiding principles into my speech with enough substance to show it’s an integral part of the grand plan, we should be okay. I’d like to be able to say we’ll have a definitive climate strategy by early December. Can you deliver on that, Peter?”

“I can and I will, Mr. President,” Peter responded with a determination that surprised even the president. “We’ve done a lot of work on this already, and I’m sure I’ll borrow from what we did in California.”

“Could you give me a five-thousand-foot overview of what the strategic construct might look like?”

“Glad to, Clayton,” Peter responded, caught up in the urgency of his bid for change. “In a broad sense, we’re going to see the rate of carbon dioxide emissions slow as the global economy flounders. Now, ordinarily, this small improvement plus the Saudi crisis would take climate-change off everyone’s radar screen. But not this time, I’m afraid.”

“How bad is it?” Clayton asked.

“This is still not confirmed, Mr. President, but we believe the climate-change satellite data will confirm three awful things that will raise the visibility—literally—of climate-change.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Clayton responded.

“It isn’t, Mr. President. First, it now looks like the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica is in the throes of major disintegration. Considering that it’s roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont, I don’t need to tell you what this could mean to rising sea levels and coastal flooding. Of even more immediate concern, the Greenland glacial flows are accelerating at a phenomenal speed and will contribute almost immediately to rising sea levels.

“Second, the polar vortex is being confirmed as a semipermanent condition attributable largely to the warming of the Arctic areas. Essentially, the blizzards and brutally cold temperatures we’ve experienced across North America and Europe for the past six or seven years are not aberrations, but rather a part of our new climate reality. Ironically, the climate-change disbelievers have typically cited severe winter cold waves as ‘evidence’ that global warming is a hoax, when in reality they were confirmation of it. Our projections suggest that this coming winter could be the worst ever recorded in America, and that will put an added burden on our precarious heating-fuel situation.

“This leads to my last point. Temperatures in the far north are
rising
dramatically, which exacerbates permafrost melts and increases the rate of release of the methane gas trapped in it. The methane gas thus released is more than twenty times as efficient at heat retention as carbon dioxide and will dwarf any reductions achieved in carbon dioxide emissions due to the economic downturn and reduction of fossil fuel usage. The impacts will exacerbate crop production problems and further disrupt hydrologic patterns, causing floods and droughts.”

“This is awful,” replied the dejected president. “To sum up what you just said, we are in for the worst winter ever—until next year when it may be even worse; coastal areas will soon experience rising waters due to glacial ice melts; runaway methane releases will send greenhouse gas emission levels to catastrophic highs, and the frequency and severity of famines and droughts will increase. Does that about sum it up?”

“I’m afraid it does, Mr. President,” Peter responded glumly.

“What then do you propose in terms of addressing climate-change?” Clayton asked.

“We’re going to propose aggressive mitigation and adaptation strategies, Mr. President, and the United States will have to take the lead in concert with China. The long- and short-term emission metrics will have to be determined quickly, and they can’t be back-loaded in such a way that little gets done in the early years. Strategically, we’ll recommend a two-pronged approach of curtailing energy use and using clean energy wisely, as well as building new energy models.

“We’ll go after the low-hanging fruit first, and that includes conservation, austerity, and demand-reduction efforts—both voluntary and mandatory. Concurrently, we will recommend a complete reengineering of our current energy models. This will entail a long-term plan to ramp up renewable energy power systems, installing a nationwide electrical smart grid infrastructure, and an all-out effort to retrofit our transportation models and systems. We envision an intense and sustained effort comparable to the Manhattan Project to accomplish these things. We’ll propose significant incentives for playing the game right and disincentives for bucking the system. Last, and perhaps our greatest challenge, we’ll need to transform our very culture and national mindset to match the new reality of getting by with less. It has to be a total effort.”

“Thank you for your good work, my friend,” Clayton said softly, challenged by the magnitude of what needed to be done. It would be his job to sell this bitter pill to the American people. He was grateful to have his friend driving the development of the plan, but Peter was going to need substantial political air cover to succeed. He sat forward in his chair and looked Peter straight in the eyes.

“Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat anything when I address Congress,” Clayton said with determination. “It’s time to clean house and address the acute and chronic issues we’ve set aside for decades. There’s no question we’re caught in the vortex of a perfect storm, and there’s no way we can dodge the bullet by fancy two-stepping this time around.

“Thank you, Mr. President. It’s too bad it takes a crisis like this to galvanize the American people, but I have confidence they’ll respond magnificently once they understand what’s at stake. It’ll help even more if China joins us in our energy and climate efforts.”

“I’m hopeful they will, Peter. I talked to Jack this morning and he’ll be meeting with the Chinese delegation later today.” Clayton paused a moment before zapping his friend with yet another challenge.

“Peter, you have a vital role to play in our Safe Harbors implementation and its aftermath, and I’d like to ask you to become a permanent member of my NSC SWAT team. I really need you there.”

“I’d be honored to become a permanent member, Mr. President.”

As Peter Canton left the Oval Office, Clayton could not help but regret the wear and tear this new commitment was sure to take on his friend in the coming months.

P
astor Veronica Larson was perplexed as she left her Wednesday afternoon church council meeting. While church attendance had been up almost 20 percent at all services last Sunday—something that hadn’t happened since the 9/11 attack sixteen years ago—she knew it was a good barometer of the angst felt by the community.

Who wouldn’t be frightened?
There had been no let-up in the barrage of bombshell news. The Chunxiao thing; the overthrow of the Saudi government and instability in the Middle East; the oil embargo and devastating effects of skyrocketing gas prices; and now the loss of President Burkmeister and the swearing in of a new president—it was all too much to take in. There were no worldly constants you could count on anymore, and she ached for the trauma it was causing her kids.

Relieved to have a mind-clearing drive between her and a visit with an ailing parishioner, she turned her car radio to the Wellington Crane show.
What kind of hold does this man have on me?
she mused.

“… and today’s show will focus on two momentous events taking place in the world,” decried the deep baritone voice of Wellington Crane. “The first item is the succession of the presidency to Clayton McCarty and his questionable nomination of Elizabeth Cartright to serve as his vice president. The second is the alarming destabilization in the Middle East and what it will mean for the United States, Israel, and the world. It’s a complicated situation, folks, and today I’ll walk you through it as only I can do. Helping me will be my good friend and a great American, Senator Tom Collingsworth, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Let me make a few brief comments before we start, good people. First and foremost, I am a patriotic American, and I support my new president as I hope you will in this time of crisis. Having said that, I am not afraid to offer my constructive criticism when I think it will help Clayton McCarty to be a better president. In all humility, I doubt there is anyone in America who understands this country and its people better than I do. While I support the president, it would be criminal of me not to share the invaluable insights I always seem to bring to the table.”

Veronica’s cell phone rang. It was Martha Earling, the church secretary, calling to tell her the church phones were ringing off the hook with people requesting information on how and where to attend tonight’s Life Challenges group. Veronica instructed her to open up the sliding room-divider and prepare for an overflow crowd. She then returned to Wellington Crane.

“… and furthermore, my friends, here’s the thing: the American people want—they crave—openness and transparency from their president. I don’t want to sound critical of the president, but I was astounded by the way he blew off the press and the American people yesterday with his terse statement that he would wait until his Monday-night address to Congress before divulging his plans. I mean … c’mon, is this the way you treat a shaken nation? It’s almost like saying ‘don’t call me, I’ll call you.’ We’re in a grave crisis, folks, and we need to know where
our
president stands. This is a horrible way to start his presidency, but hey, I’m not trying to be critical—I’m only reporting what I see.”

Veronica shook her head at Crane’s duplicity. It was amazing how brazenly he took cheap shots at the president while proclaiming his patriotic allegiance.
Is anyone really buying this
? she wondered.

“As I watched the swearing-in ceremony yesterday,” said Crane, “I was struck by the panned-in shots of his brother, Jack McCarty. I must tell you, my friends, I find it rather shocking he would appoint his own brother to be his chief of staff. This is an important position, folks, and you’d think he would’ve picked a seasoned professional. This does not bode well for America; hopefully this president will not favor cronyism over competency. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being, but this alarms me.

“I was also saddened to see the frail appearance of President Burkmeister as he gave Clayton McCarty what looked like a feeble handshake following the swearing-in ceremony. I’ve had my differences with President Burkmeister, as you know, but it was sad to see the walking remnants of this once-great man. My sources tell me he checked into Walter Reed immediately after the ceremony, and I’m afraid his prognosis is bleak. I believe that he
was
a good—but misguided—man.”

Incredible,
thought Veronica.
Here was a man who only three weeks ago referred to President Burkmeister as the one of the “BM boys,” and now he refers to him in the past tense, with barely veiled hatred, all because he had the temerity to disagree with the great Wellington Crane.

“The news in the Middle East is grim,” declared Crane in his most authoritative voice. “Our loyal ally, Israel, is barraged by uprisings on multiple fronts. Hezbollah has launched devastating rocket attacks against Tel Aviv and Haifa, and Hamas has fired off rockets from Gaza. There is widespread rioting throughout the West Bank, and Syrian forces are now amassing near the Golan Heights. Unfortunately, while Israel is looking for strong American support, they are getting little more than lip service from us. It’s comparable, my friends, to the weak-kneed support we’ve given our Japanese allies on the Chunxiao Incident. I’m deeply upset, and …”

Just then, she picked up another cell-phone call, this one from Mandy.

“Hi hon, what’s up?” Victoria asked with as much cheer as she could muster.

“Mom, I can’t talk now, but I’m so excited I had to talk to someone.”

“Slow down, honey,” Veronica replied, “Why are you so excited?”

“I turned my essay in to the principal today, and he read it while I was sitting there. He really liked it, Mom, and told me my suspension was lifted and I could go back to class. But that’s not all; he said I had a real talent as a writer and offered to get me into a creative writing class if I was interested. Isn’t it exciting, Mom?”

Before Veronica could respond to her daughter’s good news, Mandy said she had to go. Still, this was the best news she had heard for a long time, and she took a moment to give thanks before returning to Wellington Crane.

“… and the American economy is now in free fall, heading for a meltdown,” said the Great One, almost gleefully. “The market has dropped another 17 percent since the start of the Saudi oil crisis, and oil prices have escalated to over three hundred dollars per barrel. Think about it this way, folks: if you had one million dollars in your retirement account last week, you’ve probably lost over $170,000 of it since then. And what are we doing about it? Absolutely nothing. Here we are, the most powerful nation in the world, and we’re just letting these sand-pounders have their way with us. Good grief, folks, is that what this nation has come to?”

Veronica turned it off as she neared the hospice. She had grown fond of her dignified eighty-five-year-old parishioner, whose slow decline she had watched for some time, and she said a prayer before entering the room. She left the hospice about twenty-five minutes later, fortified by the strength of this remarkable woman. How wonderful it would be if everyone had her faith.

About ten minutes into her drive, she once again tuned into the Wellington Crane show.

“… and I can assure you, Wellington, that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will want to know very soon what President McCarty intends to do about the growing Saudi and Israeli crisis that’s so greatly impacting the American people.”

“Tell me, Senator Collingsworth, have the McCarty people been in touch with you as to how to get this crisis resolved?” Crane asked, obviously tweaking the senator’s pride. “Surely they could benefit from your broad experience in foreign policy.”