Tom Perriello Moves to State Department, Pledges to Make Climate Change Central Focus

Congratulations to my friend Tom Perriello on his move to the State Department. I find this to be particularly encouraging:

Former Rep. Tom Perriello is leaving the Center for American Progress to head the State Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, which analyzes U.S. diplomatic and development efforts abroad…

…Perriello said one of his top objectives will be to make sure the reality of climate change is integrated into the State Department’s strategic vision. The review, produced every four years, was first launched in 2010 by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and is modeled after a similar Department of Defense project. The 2010 review includes only passing references to climate change.

“Anyone who looks at conflicts around the world understands the role changing climate is playing,” Perriello told HuffPost, adding that such an understanding should be “integrated into all aspects of diplomacy and development.“

Perriello’s exactly right about that; climate change is by far and away the top crisis/challenge facing humanity right now, even if the corporate media, the fossil fuel industry, and the politicians they’ve bought and paid for don’t want you to know that. Question #1 for Tom Perriello (who is a great pick for this job, by the way): does the centrality of climate change to U.S. foreign policy mean the State Department will do an about face and reject the Keystone XL Canadian tar sands export pipeline? For the sake of our planet’s environment, let’s hope so…