Is Bernie Sanders the Best Candidate on Climate Change?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/05/bernie-sanders-greenest-presidential-candidate

Is Bernie Sanders the Best Candidate on Climate Change?
He was recently ranked as the Senate's top leader on global warming.
—By Ben Adler | Thu May 14, 2015 6:15 AM EDT

The Democratic presidential primary race got its second major candidate recently, and its first true climate hawk: Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, self-described democratic socialist. Sanders has one of the strongest climate change records in the Senate. In fact, according to rankings released by Climate Hawks Vote, a new super PAC, Sanders was the No. 1 climate leader in the Senate for the 113th Congress that ended in January.

"Sanders is very much among the top leaders," says R.L. Miller, founder of Climate Hawks Vote. "He has a record of really strong advocacy for solar in particular." Miller notes that distributed solar, which enables everyone with a solar panel to create their own energy instead of relying on a monopolistic utility company, fits especially well with Sanders' democratic socialist philosophy. It's bad for corporations and good for regular folks who get to own the means of production.

Here are some of the highlights from Sanders' climate and clean energy record:

In 2013, along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sanders introduced the Climate Protection Act, a fee-and-dividend bill. It would tax carbon and methane emissions and rebate three-fifths of the revenue to citizens, then invest the remainder in energy efficiency, clean energy, and climate resiliency. The bill, of course, went nowhere (even if it had advanced in the Democratic-controlled Senate, it would have been DOA in the Republican-controlled House), but it shows that Sanders supports serious solutions and wants to keep the conversation going.


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Bill McKibben, who founded 350.org and has led the fight to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, says he is confident Sanders understands the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Sanders has opposed Keystone, while Clinton has avoided taking a position on it. "He's been the most consistent and proactive voice in the entire Keystone fight," writes McKibben in an email. "Everything that's been needed—from speeches on the floor to legislation to demands that the State Department change its absurd review process—he and his staff have done immediately and with a high degree of professionalism…On climate stuff he's been the most aggressive voice in the Senate, rivaled only by Sheldon Whitehouse. He understands it for the deep, simple problem it is: that we can't keep burning this stuff." (Full disclosure: McKibben is a member of Grist's board of directors.)

more...

[elleng]

1. Maybe, maybe not.

Mother Jones magazine called Martin O'Malley the best candidate on environmental issues, a while ago. (He's about to declare, planning an announcement May 30.)

Article here:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/12/martin-omalley-longshot-presidential-candidate-and-real-climate-hawk

[MADem]

2. Methane emissions, you say?

Would that include those infamous Vermont dairy COW FARTS...?

On a serious note, that's being addressed with, among other things, changes to feed--who knew?

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/06/13/putting-end-gassy-cows-253463.html

Sen. Sanders, per the article, is batting two for six on legislation, but his heart is in the right place. I don't think anyone currently in the running for the D nomination is on the wrong side of these issues, though:

So we know Sanders is dedicated to climate action and clean energy. Looking forward, though, it's unclear how Sanders will differentiate his climate and energy proposals from Clinton's. Clinton, like President Obama, firmly supports regulating carbon emissions domestically and getting strong international agreements to reduce emissions globally. While it is certainly true that Sanders has made more of an issue of his support for the same, it is not necessarily an issue on which Clinton needs to be pushed leftward. Many climate hawks love the fee-and-dividend approach that Sanders supports, but the truth is that no big climate-pricing bill will pass in the next few years, no matter who's president, because the Republicans will continue to control the House. And Clinton already supports the kind of strong executive action that Obama is taking to curb CO2 emissions from power plants.

[leftofcool]

3. All Dems are good on this. O'Malley might be at the top of the list.

[elleng]

4. Yes indeed!

Mother Jones magazine called him the best candidate on environmental issues.
Article here:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/12/martin-omalley-longshot-presidential-candidate-and-real-climate-hawk

[Buzz Clik]

5. Do any of the candidates understand the science at all?

Anyone in the Senate? House?

[rock]

6. Of course we don't need the best candidate for climate change

We just need a good one.