If you happen to land on Mitt Romney’s website, just try to check out his policy positions on climate change. I don't want to ruin the surprise for you, but you won't find much. In fact, you won't find anything. He never mentions it at all.
Now that's not only scary, but it's questionable politics. Young people are, of course, terribly concerned about climate change, which makes sense considering that it's a broken planet that they stand to inherit. Trying to get their vote seems like a good idea.
Older folks are concerned about climate change, too. It's hard not to be when we blast through temperature record after temperature record, and half the country is in drought. Saying something, just acknowledging the obvious, seems like a decent thing to do. So 350.org launched a campaign last week asking Mr. Romney two simple questions:
1. Do you disagree with the scientific consensus that humans are warming the planet?
2. If so, what do you plan to do to solve the climate crisis if you are elected President?
These questions shouldn't be too hard to answer. A bunch of government agencies--that's the same government that Romney wants to run--including NASA, the EPA, and NOAA all of have said that humans are warming the planet and that strong action is needed.
Romney doesn’t talk much about global warming while campaigning, and when he does, his words are down right scary. He calls cap and trade, a Republican idea, a “radical feel-good” policy that would have “devastating results for people across the planet.” He has said that on Day 1 of his administration that he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring 900,000 barrels of the world’s dirtiest oil, tar sands crude from Canada, down through the US for export.
He also wants to maintain subsidies for fossil fuel companies; end the wind production tax credit (PTC) that allows the wind sector, which now employs more people than the coal sector, to compete with electricity from from fossil fuels; and take away the EPA's ability to regulate CO2. If you're wondering, President Obama has the opposite positions on all of these issues.
Please take a minute and sign 350.org's petition to Romney. We'll deliver it for you to his campaign HQ in September and let you know what he says. Thanks.