Climate Change Questions Make the Cut at CNN Debate
July 24th, 2007 by Carbon CoalitionEnergy and climate change were two of the main issues taking the stage last night at the Democratic Presidential Debate in South Carolina. After hearing very little about climate change at the last CNN debate, it was about time! Thanks to You Tube and the thousands of US voters who submitted questions on video, the debate was more representative of American voters and climate change was finally on the table at a CNN sponsored debate. Here is TPC’s recap:
One of the most notable questions was from a Snowman who asked the candidates what they were going to do to ensure his son would live a good, long life. Congressman Kucinich responded that in order to truly combat climate change we need to connect ‘global warring’ and global warming. He emphasized that we need to move away from oil and coal and move towards wind and solar. He referenced his Works Green Administration plan which would organize Americans around sustainability and conservation.
The next voter told the candidates what she does to conserve energy personally and asked how the candidates’ policies would reduce energy consumption on a national level. Sen. Gravel responded first that the answer is to change the tax structure. Gravel referenced his plan for a fair tax which would tax people on what they spend rather than what they earn. Gravel said that by addressing the tax structure we could move from a consuming nation to a saving nation.
Sen. Dodd chimed in next referencing his plans to increase fuel efficiency in cars to 50mpg, make his federal fleet hybrid and implement a carbon tax. Dodd also noted that we need to move away from fossil fuels in order to truly deal with the problem.
Anderson Cooper followed up with another interesting question regarding conservation and asked how many of the candidates took a private jet to get to the debate. While some seemed hesitant to respond, all of the candidates raised their hands except for Sen. Gravel and Congressman Kucinich.
A question on nuclear power offered Edwards, Obama and Clinton an opportunity to talk about their plans in greater detail. Stating his opposition to nuclear power, Sen. Edwards emphasized that we need to pursue wind, solar and cellulose based biofuels. He added that he doesn’t believe we should liquefy coal and that the last thing we need is another carbon based fuel. Edwards finished by saying that renewable, clean energy sources are the only way to address global warming.
Obama responded to the question stating that there are no silver bullets with the energy crisis and that we need to explore all of our options. Sen. Obama referenced solar energy, fuel efficiency on cars and an aggressive cap on greenhouse gases and finished by emphasizing that we need to try a series of approaches.
Sen. Clinton finished off the question by citing her Strategic Energy Fund which would take money from oil subsidies saving roughly $50 billion to be spent on what America does best: innovation and technology. Clinton noted that it is important to consider all alternative sources as well as fuel efficiency for cars and energy efficiency for buildings. Clinton stated that she is agnostic about nuclear power and that until we figure out what to do with the waste and the cost, it is hard to see it as part of our future. Sen. Clinton finished by saying that the issue of energy and global warming has the promise of creating millions of new jobs if we do it right.
Check out all of the debate videos here.
CNN will host a similar debate for Republicans on Monday, September 17 in Florida. If you are concerned about global warming and you have a video camera - send your question in! If not, send us an e-mail and we’ll get you on video for the next debate.
