Florida Is Burning, The Midwest Is Flooding: Why Aren't Dems Debating Climate?

[appalachiablue]

(Common Dreams, 6/25/19). As Democratic presidential candidates made their way to Miami this week for the first primary debate of the 2020 election, the city hit its highest temperature ever recorded and a wildfire burned through more than 17,000 acres of the Everglades. Communities across the Midwest are still recovering from an onslaught of floods and tornadoes in recent months. More Americans than ever before are worried about climate change, realizing it will soon directly harm them and their neighbors, if it hasn’t already.

Which is why you'd think it's a no-brainer for Democrats to spend one of their presidential primary debates having a national conversation about the climate crisis. After all, every major Democrat vying for the presidential nomination — including frontrunner Joe Biden — thinks we should have a debate focused on climate change. So do an overwhelming majority of Democratic primary voters, according to new data, as do the country's leading environmental and activist groups, like the Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace USA, Credo Action, Friends of the Earth, and 350.org.



Miami, the host city for the first debate, is staring down the barrel of 3 feet of sea level rise resulting from global warming. Yet our political and media establishment has failed spectacularly to give the climate crisis its due airtime: Only 1.5% of questions asked during the 2016 presidential primary debates were about climate change. The United Nations has told us, in no uncertain terms, that we have 10 years left to act to prevent worldwide ecological collapse, so a televised conversation among those vying to lead our country on the topic seems worthy of at least as much airtime as the birth of the royal baby.

It’s a conversation worth having, because there are real differences among Democrats on how to approach the issue. Sure, nearly every candidate says they support the Green New Deal, but what that support actually means differs wildly from one candidate to the next. And big questions remain, like how quickly each wants to move the economy off fossil fuels, what role each envisions for nuclear energy in the decades to come, and how heavily we should lean on mythical tech magic like ‘carbon capture’ to pull emissions out of the air.

A climate debate could force candidates to go beyond talking points, and ask each how they’ll overcome fossil fuel industry opposition, ramp down emissions, and scale up renewable energy. It would also have a practical effect, requiring all two dozen Democratic candidates to study the issue thoroughly —...continued...

Read More, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/06/25/florida-burning-midwest-flooding-why-arent-democrats-debating-climat Fla Is Burning. The Midwest Is Flooding. Why Aren't Democrats Debating Climate? Miami hit its highest temp ever recorded in the same week Democrats arrived for the first presidential debate. This isn't rocket science.

[JI7]

1. all Democrats agree climate change exists

[ancianita]

15. It's not enough. Not near enough to show awareness of its economic, medical and national security

impact.

The Pentagon knows. It can milk climate change threat two ways: get bigger budgets on the back end of climate change disasters to shore up its vulnerable 79 global bases that shore up our security,

Or become a partner in active preventive measures of a carbon capture and greening manhattan project that saves us all that crisis spending and saves us from eventual economic, medical, and military collapse.

Only one of these candidates knows the preventive value of taking $5 TRILLION given to Big Oil & Gas yearly and spending it on transforming our grid from fossil to clean energy.

[BannonsLiver]

17. +1

It’s just a chance to take shots at the party. The reality is if they had one that of course wouldn’t be good enough and then there would be demands for two or three more. I also think it’s kind of unbelievable people think it won’t come up in the many many debates ahead.

[crazytown]

2. A climate change debate may be viable with 10 candidates in total

but not twenty.

[appalachiablue]

5. That is quite a large group. The DNC should set a debate

when climate change will be discussed to assuage the protests and build confidence. I hope and think they will, it's good politics too.

[crazytown]

10. Based on their announcements I would like to hear more

from Beto, Biden, Inslee and Warren. Pete and Kamala have yet to set out detailed policy. There may be others, but a parade of zero percenters over two nights, count me out.

[bluewater]

4. All Democrats agree climate change exists

But the steps taken to protect the climate and the urgency to implement them have been inadequate.

Hold a debate on climate change!

[appalachiablue]

6. They need to set a debate date for this, it's vital!

[crazytown]

12. Date, not dates.

20 candidates over two nights won't work. The main actors need to be together.

[pnwmom]

7. This is the Gov. Inslee's mission at the debates TONIGHT. He says EVERYTHING ties in to climate

change, and as long as he's on the stage he's going to make it a focus.

He needs more donors this quarter though, to keep his voice on the stage. If anyone can afford to donate a few dollars, please do so.

https://jayinslee.com/

[brooklynite]

13. A friend with contacts tells me he knows he won't win and is gunning for EPA Admin

[pnwmom]

14. If that was true, seems like a good enough reason to help him stay on the stage. nt

[bdamomma]

8. the climate and

children in prisons must be discussed. We have some serious issues in the country and they need to be addressed.

No piling on Democrats on that stage tonight they should present themselves as a Team.

[TwilightZone]

9. They are.

"Climate change expected to take center stage during this week’s Democratic debates"

https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/06/23/climate-change-expected-to-take-center-stage-during-this-weeks-democratic-debates/

[appalachiablue]

11. Good article from 3 days ago, TY. Wish people had seen this,

there's a good deal of protest, maybe since the DNC isn't formally arranging this for tonight, IDK.

[Kaleva]

16. Adapting to climate change is going to pretty much be an individual effort.

[Indygram]

18. Beto was the first to come out with a Climate Plan

https://betoorourke.com/climate-change/

[BeckyDem]

19. What is the priority here? When not IF the planet further burns and is stripped of

natural resources, who is going to feel the brunt of climate change? Answer: Everyone, eventually.

[ecstatic]

20. Just like on the impeachment debate, they're waiting for the polls, I guess...

And not enough Americans see the connection between this crazy, unprecedented extreme weather and climate change.