Question: How Does John Edwards rate on Al Gore's Green Agenda?
Al Gore at TED Talks
2006 - Monterey, CA
http://www.youtube.com/...
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Al Gore's Target areas for reversing the Carbon Trend:
TARGET A) Efficiency in End-use Energy and Conservation
TARGET B) Efficiency in Energy Sources
TARGET C) Efficiency in Cars and Trucks
TARGET D) Efficiency in other Transportation
TARGET E) Carbon Capture and Sequestration (will be the "killer app")
Al Gore's Steps: What can you DO about the Climate Crisis?
STEP 1) Reduce carbon emissions from your home energy use.
(through better design, insulation, buy green energy)
STEP 2) Reduce carbon emissions from your auto and other transportation.
(buy a hybrid, use light rail, carpool, biking)
STEP 3) Be a green consumer.
Buy the most energy-efficient appliances and other products.
STEP 4) Live a "carbon neutral" life. It's easier than you think.
Reduce carbon emission; then buy offset the rest.
STEP 5) Use the Carbon Calculator.
Find out how to become "carbon neutral" (www.climatecrisis.net)
STEP 6) Make your Business "carbon neutral".
(It's not as hard as you think.)
STEP 7) Integrate climate solutions into all your innovations
(whether in Technology, Design, or Entertainment)
STEP 8) Invest substantially -- in companies and funds
that are part of the solution.
STEP 9) Become a catalyst for change in your community.
Teach others about the Climate Crisis
STEP 10) Raise awareness by promoting "An Inconvenient Truth"
STEP 11) Send someone to Nashville who can learn how to give
the Climate Crisis slideshow.
STEP 12) Become politically active - Speak up!
Contact you elected Officials! Make Democracy work!
STEP 13) Urge the U.S. to join the rest of the world community
in "capping and trading" carbon emissions.
The market will work to solve this problem.
STEP 14) Help with the mass persuasion campaign when
it is launched this Spring. We have to change
the minds of the American People.
STEP 15) Re-brand Global Warming. Let's call it the " Climate Crisis".
It really is a "Planetary Emergency".
AL Gore: This is NOT a Political Issue. It's a Moral Issue.
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SO How Does John Edwards rate on Al Gore's "Green Agenda"?
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Let's see using just these two data sources:
ENEE = Edwards' New Energy Economy (Issues Page)
http://johnedwards.com/...
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EPEE = Edwards platform on energy and the environment (Grist Interview)
http://www.grist.org/...
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Al Gore's Target areas for reversing the Carbon Trend:
GORE TARGET A) Efficiency in End-use Energy and Conservation
EDWARDS: - Meet the demand for new electricity through efficiency for the next decade, instead of producing more power. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: Meet New Demand for Electricity through Efficiency: ... Increased efficiency includes managing peaks in demand and modernizing the electric grid [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: - Create a new energy economy and 1 million new jobs by investing in clean, renewable energy, sparking innovation, a new era in American industry, and life in family farms. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE TARGET B) Efficiency in Energy Sources
EDWARDS: will require power companies to generate 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: Make Efficiency Profitable for Utilities [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: What I have proposed is capping carbon emissions in America, ratcheting the cap down each year to eventually achieve the goal of 80 percent reductions by 2050, and then auctioning off the right to emit greenhouse gases and using that money to change the way we use and produce energy in this country. [Reference: EPEE]
GORE TARGET C) Efficiency in Cars and Trucks
EDWARDS: will provide $1 billion a year to help U.S. automakers advance and apply the latest technology, including biofuels, hybrid and electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, ultra-light materials, and drive train improvements. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: With a strong ethanol industry that includes cellulosic ethanol and hybrid and electric technology, American cars and trucks can be virtually petroleum-free within a generation [Reference: ENEE]
GORE TARGET D) Efficiency in other Transportation
EDWARDS: I'll also create a $13 billion-a-year New Energy Economy Fund to invest in renewable and energy-efficient technology, including new methods of producing and using ethanol, like cellulosic ethanol. To raise these resources, I'll charge greenhouse-gas polluters for emission permits and repeal subsidies for big oil companies. [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: The development of corn-based ethanol production and use now lays the foundation for the use of cellulosic ethanol in the future. By expanding the ethanol market, we build demand and infrastructure -- such as biorefineries and distribution systems -- that will be used for cellulosic production.[Reference: EPEE]
GORE TARGET E) Carbon Capture and Sequestration (will be the "killer app")
EDWARDS: Only Candidate calling for a freeze on all development of coal power plants until they can be outfitted with carbon-sequestration technology. [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: will invest $1 billion a year to research ways to burn coal cleanly and recycle its carbon underground permanently. [Reference: ENEE]
Al Gore's Steps: What can you DO about the Climate Crisis?
GORE STEP 1) Reduce carbon emissions from your home energy use.
(through better design, insulation, buy green energy)
EDWARDS: will provide up to a $5,000 tax credit for homes and small businesses that invest in onsite generation of renewable energy [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: Expand Smart Meters and Smart Grids to Use Energy More Wisely: ... smart meters encourage consumers to use less energy and to use energy when it can be generated less expensively. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 2) Reduce carbon emissions from your auto and other transportation.
(buy a hybrid, use light rail, carpool, biking)
EDWARDS: will raise standards to 40 miles per gallon by 2016, a step that could single-handedly reduce oil demand by 4 million barrels per day. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: will require all new cars sold after 2010 to be "flex fuel" cars running on either gasoline or biofuel. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: We drive a Ford Escape Hybrid. [Reference: EPEE]
GORE STEP 3) Be a green consumer.
Buy the most energy-efficient applicances and other products.
EDWARDS: will also encourage local generation of renewable energy through "net metering," which allows families to sell extra power back to utilities for credits against their electricity bills. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: Research the Next Generation of Small Scale Renewable Energy [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 4) Live a "carbon neutral" life. It's easier than you think.
Reduce carbon emission; then buy offset the rest.
EDWARDS: was the first candidate to make his campaign carbon neutral [Reference: EPEE]
GORE STEP 5) Use the Carbon Calculator.
Find out how to become "carbon neutral" (www.climatecrisis.net)
Question: You have been criticized for building a large house. How do you reconcile that with concerns about consumption and energy use? [Reference: EPEE]
Answer: EDWARDS: From the very beginning we were very energy conscious with this home, which is how we got a five-star rating, and it's why we use solar to provide some energy. It is why [my wife] Elizabeth and I are committed to our home being carbon neutral, and our campaign being carbon neutral. [Reference: EPEE]
GORE STEP 6) Make your Business "carbon neutral".
(It's not as hard as you think.)
EDWARDS: accelerate new energy technologies to market and help new businesses get started, encourage consumers to buy efficient products, and provide transition assistance to workers in carbon-intensive industries. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 7) Integrate climate solutions into all your innovations
(whether in Technology, Design, or Entertainment)
EDWARDS: will also encourage private investment by making permanent tax credits for the production of renewable energy; they currently expire at the end of 2008. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: Open the Electricity Grids to Distributed and Renewable Generation:
Farms, factories, schools, and communities ought to be able to establish their own power sources and compete with traditional plants to sell wholesale capacity, as New England has pioneered. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 8) Invest substantially -- in companies and funds
that are part of the solution.
EDWARDS: believes that American entrepreneurs, farmers and manufacturers can lead the world in technology to generate clean, reliable energy and use it more efficiently. [Reference: ENEE]
EDWARDS: In rural America, hundreds of small renewable energy companies are generating new jobs in ethanol and other biofuels, wind, and solar. The increased demand for the machinery of renewable energy -- such as wind turbines, solar panels and biomass engines -- is an opportunity to create "green collar" jobs and reenergize America's manufacturing sector. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 9) Become a catalyst for change in your community.
Teach others about the Climate Crisis.
EDWARDS: has a plan to make America producer of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the planet. [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: we auction off the right to emit greenhouse gases, we will put a significant part of the proceeds toward helping automakers transition to the development of the most innovative and fuel-efficient cars on the planet. [Reference: EPEE]
GORE STEP 10) Raise awareness by promoting "An Inconvenient Truth"
EDWARDS: The most central point I'd make is that all of us have to take responsibility in order to address an issue like climate change. [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: Technologies like liquefied coal? I am against liquefied coal. We cannot add to the damage that is already being done to the environment by using additional carbon-based fuels. [Reference: EPEE]
GORE STEP 11) Send someone to Nashville who can learn how to give
the Climate Crisis slideshow.
EDWARDS: Create GreenCorps: Idealistic young Americans can help fight climate change by conducting volunteer energy audits, weatherizing homes, installing home solar panels, and training neighborhood groups to do the same. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 12) Become politically active - Speak up!
Contact you elected Officials! Make Democracy work!
EDWARDS: was the first candidate to call for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: In my first year, two of my top priorities will be submitting legislation that strengthens the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and restoring the "polluter pays" principle in the Superfund. [Reference: EPEE]
GORE STEP 13) Urge the U.S. to join the rest of the world community
in "capping and trading" carbon emissions.
The market will work to solve this problem.
EDWARDS: Make Polluters Pay: Edwards will auction off a portion of the pollution permits to raise $10 billion a year for a New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart clean, renewable, and efficient energy technologies and create 1 million jobs. Other permits will be sold or given away. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 14) Help with the mass persuasion campaign when
it is launched this Spring. We have to change
the minds of the American People.
EDWARDS: Reduce the U.S. Government's Energy Use by 20 Percent and Make the White House Carbon Neutral. The U.S. government is the nation's single largest energy consumer, with a $15 billion energy bill in 2005. Edwards will overhaul federal buildings and vehicles to emphasize efficiency, reducing the use of energy by 20 percent, and expand the government's use of renewable sources. [Reference: ENEE]
GORE STEP 15) Re-brand Global Warming. Let's call it the " Climate Crisis".
It really is a "Planetary Emergency".
EDWARDS: It is our responsibility as stewards of the planet, and if America doesn't lead on this, it is going to have devastating consequences to us and to our children. [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: will create the $13 billion-a-year New Energy Economy Fund. The fund will be financed by greenhouse gas polluters through the sale of emission permits and by ending taxpayer giveaways for big oil companies [Reference: ENEE]
AL Gore: This is NOT a Political Issue. It's a Moral Issue.
EDWARDS: What inspired me is that the world is at crisis on this issue of climate change. It requires action now. I feel a personal responsibility and also a responsibility as a candidate for president to lead on these huge issues that face the country and the world, and there is none bigger than this one. Without American leadership, nothing will happen. [Reference: EPEE]
Question: Who is your environmental hero?
Answer: EDWARDS: You know, that's a funny thing: Today, I actually think it is Al Gore. [Reference: EPEE]
EDWARDS: We live on this beautiful planet and I feel a huge personal responsibility to protect it. [Reference: EPEE]
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SO How Does John Edwards rate on Al Gore's Green Agenda?
Darn near Excellent, I'd Say!
John Edwards on the need to fight global warming
http://www.youtube.com/...
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John Edwards - Energy Plan, Iraq, Universal Health Care
http://www.youtube.com/...
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Will you stand up? (Energy and the Environment)
http://www.youtube.com/...
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John Edwards is taking a Stand to meet that Call,
will you stand with him -- or will we let another Decade, slip by, with no real change?