The Arctic is on fire. The weather is getting more extreme and destructive. We’ve already left normal behind as climate stability unravels. We are conducting a monstrous experiment with our atmosphere and our oceans, without having a good idea what the outcome will be.
We need to do more than make this one bullet point on a candidate’s list of issues to mention.
Transcript: Night 2 of the second Democratic debate
BASH: Let's now turn to the issue of the climate crisis. The United Nations says the world needs to cut all carbon emissions by 2050 or risk facing disastrous consequences. Governor Inslee, many of your fellow democratic candidates say that climate change is the biggest existential threat facing the country. You, though, are calling it the number one priority in your campaign. What do you know that the others don't?
INSLEE: Well, I know the firsthand terrific impact of climate change on Americans across the country already. The family who I saw, with their aluminum home now, just a pile of molten aluminum, they lost everything in the paradise of fires; the non-profit in Davenport that was washed away in the floods. We have to act now.
Look, climate change is not a singular issue, it is all the issue that we Democrats care about. It is health. It is national security. It is our economy. And we know this; middle ground solutions, like the vice president has proposed, or sort of middling average-sized things, are not going to save us.
Too little, too late is too dangerous. And we have to have a bold plan, and mine has been called the "gold standard." Now, we also need to embed environmental justice. I was in zip code 48217 in the Detroit neighborhood the other day, right next to an oil refinery, where the kids have asthma and they have cancer clusters. And after talking to these folks, I believe this -
BASH: Thank you -
INSLEE: I believe this; it doesn't matter what your zip code is -
BASH: Thank you, Governor.
INSLEE: - it doesn't matter what your color is, you ought to have clear -
BASH: Thank you, Governor.
INSLEE: - air and clear water in America. That's what I believe.
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: Vice President Biden, I'd like to get you to respond. Governor Inslee just said that your plan is middling.
BIDEN: There is no middle ground about my plan. The fact of the matter is I call for the immediate action to be taken. First of all, one of the things that - we're responsible for 15 percent of all the pollution in the country. He's right about how it affects people and it affects neighborhoods, particularly poor neighborhoods
But h’s the deal; in area, there’s also another piece. Eighty-five percent of it is something I helped negotiate; and that is the Paris Climate Accord. I would immediately rejoin that Paris Accord. I would make sure that we up the ante which it calls for. I would be able to bring those leaders together who I know I - I convene them in the White House, like we did in nuclear summit, and I would raise the standard.
BASH: Thank you, Mr. Vice President
INSLEE: I was challenged by the vice president.
BASH: Thank you, Senator.
INSLEE: May I be heard on this for a moment?
BASH: Go ahead, Governor.
INSLEE: Thank you very much. Look, we have -- these deadlines are set by science. Mr. Vice President, your argument is not with me, it's with science. And unfortunately, your plan is just too late. The science tells us we have to get off coal in 10 years. Your plan does not do that. We have to have off of fossil fuels in our electrical grid in 15. Your plan simply does not do that.
I've heard you say that we need a realistic plan. Here's what I believe...
BIDEN: No, I didn't say that.
INSLEE: Here's what I believe. I believe that survival is realistic, and that's the kind of plan we need. And that's the kind I have.
BIDEN: My plan calls for 500,000 charging stations around the country so by 2030 we're all electric vehicles. My plan calls for making sure that we have $400 billion invested in technologies to learn how to contain what we're doing, creating 10 million new jobs.
We will double offshore wind. We will end any subsidies for coal or any other fossil fuel. But we have to also engage the world while we're doing it. We have to walk and chew gum at the same time.
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just to clarify, would there be any place for fossil fuels, including coal and fracking, in a Biden administration?
BIDEN: No, we would -- we would work it out. We would make sure it's eliminated and no more subsidies for either one of those, either -- any fossil fuel.
INSLEE: We can't...
BASH: Thank you, sir.
INSLEE: We cannot work it out. We cannot work this out. The time is up. Our house is on fire. We have to stop using coal in 10 years, and we need a president to do it or it won't get done. Get off coal. Save this country and the planet. That's what I'm for.
‘Our house is on fire’: Jay Inslee confronts Joe Biden over climate crisis in Democratic debate
Inslee has released a series of ambitious and detailed plans — totaling 169 pages — for how he’d marshal the authority of the federal government to swiftly draw down reliance on fossil fuels, and transform the U.S. into a clean-energy economy.
He has called for ending sales of new gas-fueled cars by 2030, phasing out coal-fired power plants by the same year, and achieving zero-emission energy by 2035.
His climate platform has been praised as the gold standard by environmental and progressive groups.
This is our moment to defeat climate change.