The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

leave their home each day without food. My state now provides more healthy breakfasts per capita to children living in poverty than any other state in the country. Children cannot learn new skills for tomorrow if they lack food today. It should be a goal of all our nations that no child go hungry, period. By economic needs, I simply mean that every able man and woman must have the opportunity to earn a paycheck sufficient to meet basic necessities. Here, the creative energies of Latin America are already being put to pro- ductive use. Mexico is putting hundreds of thousands of people back to work through public investment projects that will improve transportation and infrastructure and bring additional foreign investment. And Brazil now leads the world in energy independence, using ethanol to sup- ply 40 percent of its fuel. As a former U.S. Secretary of Energy, I believe efforts to fight climate change can also be an opportunity for innovation. Under the Obama administration, I expect America to move quickly toward a real carbon trading sys- tem. I hope we also take bold steps to reward countries that make the wise investment of protecting their forests with carbon credits. And it will also be vitally important to share green technology throughout the region so clean energy generation is affordable for all. In conclusion, the new administration needs to renew a commitment to Latin America based upon engagement, dialogue and cooperation. We need equitable trade agreements, comprehensive immigration reform and a commitment to progress for all. Having spent part of my childhood in Mexico, and hav- ing traveled widely in the region, I understand the com- plicated dynamics of inter-American relations. My Mexican mother taught me to value and respect Latino culture, just as my American father made me proud to be a citizen of the United States. I titled my autobiography Between Worlds not because we are so far apart, but rather because we are so close. We share a belief in human dignity and democratic free- dom. Let us never waver from that faith. F O C U S D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41