Re: Democratic candidates address the issue of global warming while Republicans snooze...
- From: mg <mgkelson@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 04:58:21 -0800 (PST)
On Jan 1, 3:23 pm, Harry Hope <riv...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Polls suggest that voters are increasingly alarmed, and for that Mr.
Gore is partly responsible.
His film, "An Inconvenient Truth," raised the issue's profile.
Then came four reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Gore,
predicting catastrophic changes in weather patterns, sea levels and
food production unless greenhouses gases can be quickly stabilized and
then reduced by as much as 80 percent by midcentury.
There is also a growing appetite for decisive action -- everywhere, it
seems, except the White House.
Governors in more than two dozen states are fashioning regional
agreements to lower greenhouse gases, the federal courts have ordered
the executive branch to begin regulating these gases, and the Senate
has begun work on a bipartisan bill that would reduce emissions by
nearly 65 percent by 2050.
Still, the country is a long way from a comprehensive response equal
to the challenge.
That is what the Democratic candidates are proposing.
Senators Joseph Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, former
Senator John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson and Representative Dennis
Kucinich have all offered aggressive plans that would go beyond the
Senate bill and reduce emissions by 80 percent by midcentury (90
percent in Mr. Richardson's case), much as called for in the United
Nations reports.
These plans would rest primarily on a cap-and-trade scheme that
imposes a gradually declining ceiling on emissions and allows power
plants, refineries and other emitters to figure out the cheapest way
to meet their quotas -- either by reducing emissions on their own or by
purchasing credits from more efficient producers.
The idea is to give companies a clear financial incentive to invest in
the new technologies and efficiencies required to create a more
carbon-free economy.
None of the Democrats trust the market to do the job by itself.
All would make major investments in cleaner fuels and delivery
systems, including coal-fired power plants capable of capturing carbon
emissions and storing them underground.
Every Democrat except Mr. Kucinich says that carbon-free nuclear power
has to be part of the mix, although all are careful to say that safety
issues and other concerns must first be resolved.
Internationally, the Democrats say they would seek a new global accord
on reducing emissions to replace and improve upon the Kyoto Protocol,
which expires in 2012.
Winning agreement among more than 180 nations will be slow-going, so
several candidates, including Mrs. Clinton, have suggested
jump-starting the process by bringing together the big emitters like
China very early in their administrations.
China and the United States together produce about 40 percent of the
world's total emissions and neither has agreed to binding reductions.
....................................................................................................
So far, the Democratic candidates seem more engaged with the issue
than some of their interrogators in the news media.
In a recent study, the League of Conservation Voters found that as of
two weeks ago, the five main political talk-show hosts had
collectively asked 2,275 questions of candidates in both parties.
Only 24 of the questions even touched on climate change.
From a New York Times editorial, 1/1/08:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinion/01tue1.html?ref=opinion
The One Environmental Issue
The overriding environmental issue of these times is the warming of
the planet.
The Democratic hopefuls in the 2008 campaign are fully engaged,
calling for large -- if still unquantified -- national sacrifices and
for a transformation in the way the country produces and uses energy.
The Republicans do not go much further than conceding that climate
change could be a problem and, with the notable exception of John
McCain, offer no comprehensive solutions.
__________________________________________________
Harry
The religious right seems to be slowly coming around to the idea of
facing the reality of global warming and the importance of the
environment. So, I expect the Republicans will eventually lose on this
issue. You can be sure the Republicans will be kicking and screaming
all the way, though.
.
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