Although they dealt with very different subjects, today’s ‘climate summit’ in Washington recalls in certain vivid ways the Washington Naval Conference a century ago. Back then, the United States summoned the leading naval powers of the world and dictated to them how and where to limit the growth of their navies. To seem fair, the United States began by announcing how much it would limit its own naval programme, just as Joe Biden did today for greenhouse gas emissions.
The results of the Washington Conference were mixed. So too probably will be the results of this meeting and the upcoming one in Glasgow. But progress also probably demands the use of such bully pulpits.
Meanwhile – to echo the mood and tone of the middle twentieth century – the race between expectations and commitments continues its rendezvous with reality. Back then the enemy was something called the arms race, and the ‘mastery of the seas’ was its totem. Today the enemy is nature itself. Drift and mastery, a wise man once said. That is the choice. And the burden.
Apt words for 1921 and 2021.