Presidential Candidates and the Environment

"It is our responsibility to ensure that this planet remains clean and safe and livable for our children and for all of God's children," he told about 200 people gathered at the downtown public library. "But in recent years, science has made it undeniably clear that our generation is not living up to this responsibility. Global warming is not a someday problem, it is now." -Barack Obama-

Last week, Obama released a plan to combat global warming that calls for an 80 percent reduction in U.S. carbon emissions by 2050. Obama said: "we are not acting as good stewards of God's earth when our bottom line puts the size of our profits before the future of our planet."

I am not one for urging the use of God in the public square, but I have wondered where is the religious community in this debate. Why are religious leaders not acting when our future generations are at stake. Obama's plan seems comprehensive and attacks industry directly which is one of the bigger problems: Obama said he would institute a "cap and trade" approach that would require polluters to buy allowances, essentially putting a price on pollution and creating an incentive to cut emissions. I would be one for penalties instead of incentives, but it is a start.

He said $150 billion from the sale of allowances could help drive the development of environmentally friendly technologies, including the next generation of biofuels, expansion of a delivery infrastructure and fuel-efficient vehicles.

Obama also challenged individuals to do their part to help the environment, and he called for making government, businesses and homes 50 percent more energy efficient by 2030. He said he wants all federal government buildings carbon neutral by 2025.

Among other White House hopefuls, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she is intrigued by a carbon auction system but has stopped short of endorsing it. Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut has proposed taxing polluters for their carbon emissions. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has pledged to have a carbon neutral campaign, also proposes a "cap and trade" system that aims to reach the 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. No Kucinich?

Though, Obama's proposal seems urgent and comprehensive it was John Edwards who picked up an endorsement from Friends of the Earth Action.

Of course we all know who environmentalists want to run for President: Al Gore. Paul Krugman today has a column why does Al Gore drive right wingers insane? Krugman answers "the worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right. In 1992, George H. W. Bush mocked him as the "ozone man," but three years later the scientists who discovered the threat to the ozone layer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2002 he warned that if we invaded Iraq, "the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam." And so it has proved."

Gore for President? Sounds like a sequel or a movie that should have been made. Too bad the movie we are seeing now was far different than the one in 2000.