Program Overview

• Hosts: Ray Suarez, Margaret Warner, Steve Roberts and Garrick Utley
• Original Airdate: Apr 2007

On this edition of America Abroad, find out how climate change was first discovered, and how the issue soon attracted international concern. Plus, a look back at America’s role in the controversial Kyoto Protocol, and a trip to New Delhi to explore the global warming debate between the U.S. and developing countries such as India.

In segment one, Ray Suarez examines U.S. policy on climate change and the obstacles to international cooperation.

In segment two, Steve Roberts narrates the history of global climate change awareness in the 20th Century, reaching back as far as the 1930s.

Join Margaret Warner as we look back at the Clinton Administration’s role in the negotiations of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international agreement to reduce carbon emissions in segment three.

In segment four, Garrick Utley takes a closer look at the challenges countries such as India face on climate change initiatives, which often hit the developing world the hardest.

Guests on this program include:

Thomas Schelling, Nobel Prize-winning economist

David Victor of Stanford University’s Program on Energy and Sustainable Development

Kathleen McGinty, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Policy under President Clinton

Spencer Weart of the American Institute of Physics

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, former Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs

Gene Sperling, US National Economic Advisor to President Clinton

Congressman James Sensenbrenner, former Chairman of the House Science Committee

Ambassador Raul Estrada Oyuela, Chairman of the Kyoto Conference

Ashok Khosla of Development Alternatives

Anumita Roychowdhury of the Center for Science and Environment

Leena Srivarthanan of The Energy and Resource Association

Nitin Desai, former UN Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs