I don’t need to tell you that Hillary won the debate last night hands down.
With one of the largest audiences ever to watch a presidential debate, it was a perfect opportunity to really get into climate change and protection of the environment.
Hillary did restate the fact that Trump said climate change was created by the Chinese. That makes it a de facto hoax. And it’s something he’s denied ever saying, but we have his tweet as proof.
Yet it’s too bad we did not get into their policy differences very much because there’s no guarantee the next debate will have such a big audience given his dismal performance.
Trump has no climate change policy. The closest he comes to talking about climate change is his energy plan, which is virtually 100% focused on fossil fuels. As a result, the policies stated on his website reinforce the fact that he thinks climate change is a hoax, whether he still believes it was created by the Chinese or not. Anyone caring about climate change will be particularly alarmed by his 100-Day Action Plan.
It doesn’t take much work to find statements on his website that support my contention:
“We’re going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.”
and
“We’re going to rescind all the job-destroying Obama executive actions including the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.”
The Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive blueprint to tackle climate change, as President Obama eloquently puts it:
“We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.
The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure -- our forests and waterways, our croplands and snow-capped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.”
– President Obama, Second Inaugural Address, January 2013
The Waters of the United States Rule was written to try to end confusion about waters that are covered by the Clean Water Act, or as President Obama said when it was finalized:
“This rule will provide the clarity and certainty businesses and industry need about which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act, and it will ensure polluters who knowingly threaten our waters can be held accountable. My administration has made historic commitments to clean water, from restoring iconic watersheds like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes to preserving more than a thousand miles of rivers and other waters for future generations. With today’s rule, we take another step towards protecting the waters that belong to all of us.”
– President Obama said in a statement after the EPA released a final version of the regulation
Obviously, Trump could care less about how people who lives in towns and cities like Flint, Michigan are going to be able to get clean drinking and bathing water.
Trump is also a firm believer in “Drill baby drill.” I might add, “dig baby dig” and “strip mine baby strip mine.”
“Unleash America’s $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves.”
We may ultimately develop CO2 capture that’s easy to deploy, but until we do there really is no such thing as “clean coal.”
The simple truth is that if humankind continues to burn fossil fuels the way Trump suggests, there is every likelihood the planet will warm to the point where it is uninhabitable (keep in mind that CO2 in the atmosphere lasts tens of thousands of years, so the actions we take today will impact not only our children and grandchildren, but many generations of their descendants.)
On the other side of the ledger, Hillary is very clear about the threat climate change poses:
“Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time. It threatens our economy, our national security, and our children’s health and futures. We can tackle it by making America the world’s clean energy superpower and creating millions of good-paying jobs, taking bold steps to slash carbon pollution at home and around the world, and ensuring no Americans are left out or left behind as we rapidly build a clean energy economy.”
She has detailed plans to manage climate change on her website, where it’s listed as a specific topic. Many of the points she makes have additional links that provide even more information.
Climate change is, as Hillary puts it, “a defining challenge of our time.”
So far 7 of the 8 warmest years on record have occurred in the 21st Century. 2016 will likely finish as either the warmest or 2nd warmest after 2015. This is all the more disturbing because the sun is in one of its cooler phases.
Don’t think Climate change is some distant problem that only our children and grandchildren will have to contend with. It’s here and now.
A good example of the “here and now” is that for the very first time, a luxury cruise ship navigated the Northwest Passage from east to west. Apparently they had to go looking for ice, rather than being endangered by it. And they’re planning to go again in 2017. (You can join them for only $21,885.00 per person.)
I can tell you when I In lived 120 miles above the Arctic Circle (1976-1977) no one had to go looking for ice.
While we might have some years that are cooler than others, it’s crystal clear the global temperature trend line is up.
Climate change certainly needs much more attention than it received in the debate last night. Perhaps someone in the audience in the next debate, which is being held on October 9th at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, as a town meeting with uncommitted voters, will press both candidates on climate change. It’s simply too important for the vast majority of voters not to understand how Hillary wants to protect both our planet and our economy at the same time, while Trump does not.