“The solution will not come from one country,” says Whitman. “And you cannot ask of others what you will not do yourself.”

Question: Will climate change be the challenge that unites the world?

Christine Todd Whitman: I certainly hope it unites us because a solution isn’t going to come from only one country. If the United States were to adopt Kyoto tomorrow, and China and India were to continue not to be partners in it, we’re not going to solve the problem. It’s going to take all of us. But it’s very hard to ask other countries to do what you’re not willing to do.

That’s why I believe it’s important that we do have a permanent and a hard cap on carbon. We need to do that. We need to move in that direction and it is a way that we can unite.

But we’re going to have other environmental challenges. And another one that should unite the world is water quality. And, of course, climate change affects that, and that has a very real impact on people today.

Recorded on: September 15, 2008