I’ve been following the campaign trail fairly closely, and I have to say, I’m not all that impressed.
Obama doesn’t actually say anything about the issues, other than that they exist and he’s the candidate to “change” them; Hillary Clinton is riding on the laurels of her husband, and her supporters are blinded by nostalgic visions of the ’90s; and Edwards (my candidate) simply doesn’t have the money or the media coverage to stand much of a chance in this election.
Depressing.
But I think even more depressing is the way the candidates are talking about the environment. Like almost all Democrats, each of the candidates touts the “Global Warming is the most grave threat to the human race” speech whenever they’re asked a question about climate change. For the most part, it satisfies the majority of the people in America who think of global warming much in the same way that they think about child labor in Asia: it’s an issue we can worry about after the economy, after the war, the budget, health care, et al. Ask any American if they favor protections for the environment, and most would say, “Yes.” Then ask them if they’d be willing to ride their bike to work instead of driving, and the knee-jerk response is sadly lacking.
It’s the same with the Democrats (we won’t even get into the Republicans). How much do they really care about the environment? Probably as much as your average Joe (or Jane). But ask them how much they’re willing to sacrifice, personally and politically, and the answer would seem to be, “Not much.”
Though she has a 90% lifetime rating from the LCV, Clinton supports “clean” coal. Obama is rooting for liquid coal legislation, while Edwards (poor Edwards!) is saying that we need to reduce GHG emissions 80% by 2050 but has no chance of winning.
All of them are die hard supporters of corn-based ethanol, which many environmentalists know to be only a marginal improvement over oil. So, as we can already see, the candidates don’t necessarily stack up 100% on the green scale. But I think something that bothers me down to core is the fact that literally no one in this campaign (except Bill Richardson, as we shall see) has mentioned anything about a key part of environmentalism: conservation.
Back in the late 70s, when OPEC was helping to devastate the American economy, Jimmy Carter got on national television wearing a cardigan. He asked Americans to turn down the temperatures on their home heaters in order to save oil, and what did people do? They laughed at him.
And so, the age of calling upon the American people to sacrifice for a higher ideal went down the drain. Since then, there has never been a call for personal sacrifice in this country.
We all know that there are literally dozens of little things we can do in our everyday lives that can drastically mitigate the damage our lifestyle does to the environment. From changing light bulbs to unplugging our appliances at night to buying a hybrid car (or no car at all), I find it hard to believe a person living in America today can be ignorant of these little green practices. Who hasn’t been bombarded with magazine and newspaper articles telling us how much energy and money we can save by, say, insulating our homes properly? Not many. Learning green practices is now a part of our media culture.
So why don’t we do them?
I think the answer is very simple: there is no leadership on this issue.
Now we’re back at the presidential campaign. Among the three candidates running, I don’t think that any of them will encourage me to live a better life not just for myself, but for the citizens of my nation and the world at large. When you hear a recording of JFK saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country,” you suddenly feel like what he’s talking about is right and good.
The only person in the race that I can recall had anything similar to say was Bill Richardson, in his last debate. When asked about green energy, Richardson had the guts to say (this is paraphrased), “I think it’s time we ask Americans to sacrifice for something other than war.”
Those are the sorts of words that we need to hear. Someone with the power and the vision needs to stand up and say it: there is no one to fault for the crisis of climate change but you, and there is no one on this planet that can fix it single handedly. It’s up to us.
And maybe, when they say it, the world won’t laugh.
