Salon.com: John Edwards' "green-collar" America

[Catchawave]

The presidential contender wants to create a million environment-friendly jobs, and end a destructive oil addiction.
By Amanda Griscom Little

Aug. 13, 2007 | John Edwards has gone to great lengths to outshine the top Democratic candidates with an aggressive environmental platform. On the 2008 campaign trail, this blue-collar defender has painted himself as a bleeding-heart greenie.

The first candidate to call for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 and the first to make his campaign carbon neutral, Edwards has had a pied-piper effect on the other Dem contenders, prompting them to make similar pledges. He has also set himself apart with his call for a freeze on all development of coal power plants until they can be outfitted with carbon-sequestration technology. But the former senator from North Carolina runs with the pack in his enthusiasm for corn ethanol, and his green mantle is a fairly new accessory.

How committed is Edwards to his new green vision? To find out, I caught up with the candidate on his cellphone as he hurtled through the fields of rural Iowa in his campaign bus.

For more info on his platform and record, check out this Edwards fact sheet.
http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/07/31/edwards_factsheet/

You were the first presidential candidate to call for reducing U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, and you were the first to make your campaign carbon neutral. What inspired these pledges?

The answer and more Q&A's here:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/13/edwards_qa/print.html

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1. this is why Edwards is now my #1 choice. I also think Elizabeth would make best 1st Lady (or Man)

[Catchawave]

2. That would be quite a team for sure :)

:toast:

[frazzled]

3. Too bad his voting record on the environment was so poor

It's amazing that this very same author (Amanda Griscom Little) laid out the facts a bit differently in 2004:

When John Edwards was tapped to be John Kerry's veep, everyone interested in ousting Bush erupted into convulsions of praise – and the enviros were no exception.

"An excellent choice that sends a clear message about the need for change and renewed optimism in our nation's leadership for conservation, public health, and other issues important to the American people," said the League of Conservation Voters.

"Yet another strong environmental leader the Democratic presidential ticket," said Environment2004.

"Sen. Edwards consistently stands up to preserve and strengthen the laws that keep Americans' air, water, and public land clean and safe," said Debbie Sease, the Sierra Club's legislative director.

So it may come as a surprise that Edwards' lifetime voting record on the environment, determined by LCV's scorecard, is 63 percent (that would be a D-) – quite a bit lower than Kerry's 92 percent, one of the highest records in Senate history.

Admittedly, Edwards committed a number of environmental voting gaffes early on in his Senate career, which have caused some in the environmental community to say that only very recently has he become a true believer.

During his first year in office, 1999, he voted in favor of an amendment to allow mountaintop-removal mining practices. Later, he voted to exempt pickup trucks from fuel-efficiency standards and supported the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada (though he has since agreed to support Kerry's position that Yucca shouldn't become a dumping ground). Edwards also voted against an amendment that would have prevented farm subsidies from helping to expand industrial farms, and voted against stricter prohibitions on the use of pesticides in parks.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/19284/

Once again, Johnny Come Lately

[Catchawave]

4. I'm thrilled he's obviously learned from his mistakes......

Johnny Coming Around :)