Vice Admiral McGinn makes some really good points (emphasis mine):

Well, I would say that one thing-and I addressed this briefly in my testimony-and that has to do with the role of the US as a global leader. I think we’ve got to get over this notion that we can’t do anything related to climate change legislation until we have some sort of guarantees that others like China and India have got to do something. That’s not leadership. That’s basically risk aversion. And what we need to do is decide what makes sense for our nation and make some calculated assumptions of how the effect of those policies on other nations. Like China and India and Europe, and other key players on the international stage.So, I would say we have key role to play as a leader, and we shouldn’t shy away from it. We shouldn’t be afraid of ‘Well, gee, we can’t do it because if we do it they might not do it.’

If we don’t do it, if we don’t assume that role of leadership, some visionary and bold policies related to climate legislation, and energy security legislation, they’re not going to do it, and they’re going to blame us. ‘Well, we didn’t do it because the United States didn’t do it. And look at them. They’re the folks that use 25% of the oil in the world every year, and have only at the best 3% of known reserves.’

That’s not leadership.

So it’s leadership by example. It’s leadership by the United States in which we’re not just talking the talking about climate change, but we’re walking the walk ourselves, for our own national purposes. And others are going to see that it’s in their national purposes as well, and we’re going to have a much better chance for the kind of international cooperation based on the United States as leader and as partner than if we just confine our views to the near term, and confine our views to the extent of our borders.

He also testified before the Senate EPW Committee last week. Here is his written testimony, as prepared: