The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2015 41 Air pollution is the fifth greatest risk factor for premature death in India, claiming more than 630,000 lives each year. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi included cooperation on air pollution in their January 2015 Joint Statement during the president’s visit to New Delhi. And, on Feb. 18, Secretary of State John Kerry and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy signed a State-EPA Joint Agreement to Enhance Post Air Quality Monitoring and Action Overseas globally. At the Feb. 18 signing ceremony, Administrator McCarthy stated: “We came out of the president’s recent trip [to India] knowing that this was an issue of importance to the president, but to India, as well. This would never have happened if it were not for the commitment of the EPA staff, as well as the staff in the embassy [and] at State who understood they had an obli- gation. And the president talks about this a great deal, about our moral obligation to our children. Well, you folks—Mr. Secretary, your folks—understood that they had an obligation to their embassy staff, and they were going to meet that obliga- tion by moving forward with this commitment.” Would I Do It Again? Yes. As noted at the outset, deciding when, how or whether to offer constructive dissent on an issue is a personal decision dependent on the specifics of a given situation. For me, chal- lenging the prevailing status quo on air pollution data sharing was something I felt was important to do and could succeed if we kept at it and addressed the bases of concern. Seeing the needle move on policy—and, more generally, seeing public awareness of the issue grow—as a result of our work has been among the most satisfying experiences of my Foreign Service career. It is something I am very glad to have done, and I believe I have emerged as a stronger, better officer as a result. n