Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

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42 politics and governance
the present administration faces a long rebuilding effort to restore
morale, competence, professionalism, and purpose to many federal
departments and agencies.
It is possible to undo the damage of decades of neglect and
to equip government to meet the conditions of the long emergency.
But to do so will require creating the capacity necessary
to solve multiple problems that cross the usual lines of authority,
departments, and agencies as well as those between federal, state,
and local governments. In the long emergency, governments at
all levels will have to be smarter, more farsighted, more agile,
and more strategic. That does not necessarily mean a larger and
more intrusive role, but rather one that steers more effectively by
incremental adjustments and not by revolution. 32 We will need
to build new alliances between the public, nongovernmental
organizations, local and state governments, and business. Above
all, government must enable creative leadership at all levels of
society, and it must lead fi rst by example, not simply by fi at. It
must help catalyze the redesign of infrastructure, food systems,
communities, transportation, and energy systems that are resilient
and secure by design. Every increase in local capacity to grow
food, generate energy, repair, build, and fi nance will strengthen
the capacity to withstand disturbances of all kinds. Distributed
energy in the form of widely disbursed solar and wind technology,
for example, buffers communities from supply interruptions,
failure of the electrical grid, and price shocks. Similarly, a regionally
based, solar-powered food system would restore small farms,
preserve soil, create local employment, rebuild stable economies,
and provide better food while reducing carbon emissions and
dependence on long-distance transport from distant suppliers. 33
The primary goal in rethinking development and economic
growth is to create resilience—the capacity to withstand the
disturbances that will become more frequent and severe in the
decades ahead. 34