The Presidential Forum on Global Warming and America's Energy Future

Saturday was the first ever presidential forum on Global Warming and America’s Energy Future. Sponsored by Grist, the PRI show “Living on Earth”, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (CLCV Ed Fund), The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (LCV Ed Fun) and the National Resource Defense Council Action Fund (NRDC Action Fund), it was held in Los Angeles and moderated by “Living on Earth” host Steve Curwood. The panel included Mary Nichols of the California Air Resources Board and David Roberts, an Editor for Grist.

The good news is that two of the front running Democratic Primary candidates participated, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John Edwards. Congressman Dennis Kucinich also participated and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa kicked it off after an introduction by our own local eco-celebrity, Laurie David of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March. The disappointing news is that no other candidates from either party participated, although they were all invited.

First came the reality checks. Steve Curwood spoke about the 1 billion people on the planet at risk of drought, food shortages, hurricanes, and other climate related crises. Then Dave Roberts spoke of the “unforgivable ignorance and indifference” of the national political media toward climate change. As an example, he cited Tim Russert who has given 16 interviews with presidential candidates this year, asking approximately 300 questions, yet the words climate change and global warming have never crossed his lips. Laurie David had more sobering news from NASA scientist James Hanson who believes that we are already guaranteed at least 2 degrees increase in global temperatures and that we dare not go above that. She added that “we need the magnitude of the political response to match the magnitude of the problem.”

Susan Smart of CLCV gave us a little bit of good news; 84% of Californians think that climate change is a serious problem. The National LCV has set up a website, The Heat is On, to help make global warming a priority on the campaign trail. As part of the campaign, The LCV will be organizing volunteers in early voting states, working with the press and organizing a presidential leadership network.

The other piece of good news, cited by the NRDC President, is that on Friday, the California 9th Circuit Court ordered the Bush Administration to address global warming when setting fuel economy standards for light trucks. This is a big win for California which is trying to take the lead on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, despite strong resistance from the EPA.

In addition to this forum, the Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy is sponsoring a college essay contest which will grant $10,000 scholarships to three winners. The idea is to engage students in the energy revolution.

Mayor Villaraigosa gave a very impassioned speech, citing the redacted CDC report on the health effects of climate change and 7 years of Orwellian double speak from the Bush administration with things like the Clean Skies Act and the Healthy Forests Act which sound so benign until you look at what they actually do.

The format was 10 minutes for each candidate to lay out their program and then 20 minutes of conversation with the panel. One disclaimer before I launch into the substance of the forum; I have given money and support to one of the candidates that was there. I tried to come at this objectively, however, and really listen to what each candidate was saying on climate change and energy.

First up was Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. He is a very impassioned speaker and has a lot of personal credibility on this issue; he lives in a 1600 square foot house, drives a small Ford Focus that gets 40 miles to the gallon and eats a vegan diet. He spoke without notes and hit a lot of high points like repairing our relationship with nature and the planet, participating in ‘tikkun olam’ - healing the world - and having the will to change the way politics is run. He talked about creating a ‘Green Works Administration’ and infusing environmental consciousness into everything that we do, including using NASA’s scientific abilities to move us into the green economy. He managed to work in free, universal health coverage, cancelling NAFTA and protecting Native Americans. He even talked about guaranteeing every American a minimum income, leaving Steve Curwood speechless. This concept goes along with his contention that there is unlimited potential for wealth in the world, no sacrifice needed to solve our problems.

Where he falls short is in explaining how any of this can get done although he was asked that question repeatedly. While he says that the only limitation is with our thinking, he discussed no specific measures or benchmarks in terms of energy independence or reduction in emissions. And he kept referring back to his experiences changing the way the Cleveland City Council operated which doesn’t necessarily speak to his abilities on the national stage. Still, the passion in his speech, his conviction about our potential and his own beliefs earned him a standing ovation. It was like a sermon where you walk away and despite the fact that you’re not quite sure what was said and you’re probably still an atheist, you feel energized and excited afterwards.

Next up was New York Senator Hillary Clinton. When we were waiting in line, I saw a number of people from Code Pink, the anti-war activist group. While I appreciate their strong stance against the war, I was hoping that they would not turn this into a shouting match with Senator Clinton about her votes on Iraq and Iran. She entered the stage to a combination of a standing ovation with shouts of ‘Madame President’ and also some boos. She spoke from notes, and though her tone was low key (I hear that she was sick), she was very concrete in her facts:

24,000 premature deaths from power plants
1/3 of childhood asthma from pollution

And her prescriptions:

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050
Cut foreign oil by 2/3 by 2030
Reduce electricity demand by 20% by 2020 (She cited California as a model for this, it has held it’s electricity use flat for 30 years while the rest of the country’s has grown by 50%)
Market based cap and trade of carbon emissions
Executive order to make all new federal buildings carbon neutral
Double the investment in energy research by taking subsidies away from the oil companies
CAFE standards of 40 mpg by 2020 and 50 mpg by 2050
25% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025
Create 5 million ‘green collar’ jobs
Create an E-8, modeled on the G-8, to meet every 3 months to discuss climate and energy issues
Create a National Energy Council led by a Director with a direct line to the president

She repeatedly brought up two very popular environmental figures, Vice President Al Gore and California Senator Barbara Boxer, quoting Gore that “political will is a renewable resource.” She also cited him as someone “with great international credibility” and got the audience cheering by saying at the end that with a change in administration, he will have great credibility with our government again, too.

At one point, Senator Clinton was interrupted by one of the Code Pink demonstrators who started screaming about the war. He was dragged out by security, and she did seem to get a bit irritated and asked him if he was invited to speak there, too, but then she launched back into her answer to the panelist’s question on how she could accomplish all this.

Her plan and responses seemed to be a combination of ambitious goals and political pragmatism. She did point out that we will probably never get legislation that every single environmentalist will consider perfect, but we shouldn’t let perfection get in the way of progress or divide those of us that agree on the basic principles. She also pointed out that we need to do more to get the American public on board and make this a voting issue; and that when she speaks to audiences, they cheer when she brings up energy independence and remain silent when she brings up global warming. At the same time, she said that she believes that we are in a better position than ever to get this done for 3 reasons; 1) the awareness and understanding of the problem is much greater than ever before 2) Americans don’t want to continue to lag behind the international community on addressing this crisis and 3) there is a greater commitment on the part of elected representatives than ever before.

She was also very astute on the international issues regarding energy and climate change, pointing out that it is not only bad form to point at China and India when the US has been the biggest polluter for the last century, but also that we have to be cooperative and not appear to be trying to slow down their rising standards of living. She recommended investing foreign aid in demonstration projects with wind, solar and geothermal energy in those countries in order to help with the transition.

Finally, we had former North Carolina Senator John Edwards to the podium. He, too, spoke from notes with some specifics about the problem:

The Arctic ice cap could be gone in 20 years
In 2 weeks we will send a delegate to Bali with no ideas and no solutions (he called this embarrassing)
Oil and gas lobbyists spending millions to make sure we stay addicted to oil (politicians spend ½ of their time chasing money)
90% of solar production is happening overseas (US not taking the lead)

And about solutions:

Cap carbon emissions by 2010
20% reduction in emissions by 2020, 80% reduction by 2050
Auctioning of $10 billion in greenhouse pollution permits
Repealing of $30 billion in oil subsidies ($13 billion to be used to compensate coal workers, and $17 billion to be invested in clean energy)
Incentives for businesses to modernize the energy grids for greater efficiency
Low interest loans to home owners and small businesses for new technology
Incentives for public utility efficiency by separating energy profits form sales, similar to the system in California
Generate a minimum of 1 million new jobs in the green economy (concentrate those jobs in poor rural and urban areas)
Invest international aid in roads, bridges, protective walls and drought resistance crops and irrigation in the poorest countries that are most hard hit by the effects of climate change

Senator Edwards also hit some populist high notes, talking about the broken system in Washington, the need to get rid of lobbyists and publicly finance elections, the need to be straight with the American people and leave behind political calculations, the need for a President that asks the American people to be patriotic about something other than war (always a big applause line for him). He also differentiated himself by talking about sacrifice, the fact that capping emissions will likely lead to an increase in the cost of fossil fuels, that it will take a sustained commitment on the part of a generation of Americans to confront this problem and that it won’t be cheap or easy. Edwards also worked in health care (we don’t have it because of lobbyists he says), the “mess of a war in Iraq”, the 37 million poor and 35 million hungry in America, closing Guantanamo, stopping illegal spying on Americans, ending renditions and torture, stopping media consolidation, reclaiming our democracy, providing education to 100 million children globally, investing $50 billion in AIDS research and prevention, clean drinking water and sanitation and establishing micro lending overseas.

And while Senator Edwards was sweeping in his scope, he was short on the practicalities of how any of this would get through Congress, other than saying that we need a stronger Democratic majority and that if Democrats run on big, bold change, they can win elections. He also said repeatedly that politicians would follow the lead of the American people “like lemmings”. His focus was on getting the American people on board, not on legislation. His contention is that the American people only need to be asked to sacrifice and they will. While I would like to believe that, I am skeptical.

At the end of the forum, there was a discussion between three Kucinich supporters, one Edwards supporter and one undecided, Everyone was in agreement that Hillary Clinton had the strongest and clearest plan for addressing energy and global warming and the most pragmatic and believable approach to getting it done. Further, there was agreement that it would make it much easier to feel good about supporting her in the general election. The Edwards supporter in the conversation was me.