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Global Warming
Howie Hawkins – Take Action Now to Curb Global Warming |
According to the leading global climate change scientists, we need to reduce carbon emission by 70% in the next decade. Instead, US carbon emissions continue to grow.
The polar ice caps and glaciers are melting. The oceans are rising. The tundra is thawing, releasing millennia of geologically deposited carbon and methane, a much more powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Infectious diseases are migrating. Deserts are expanding. Arable land is shrinking. Hurricanes are more destructive as they are powered by the increased energy of warmer seas. Carbon in the atmosphere is dissolving into the oceans as carbonic acid that is turning them into giant acid lakes are killing coral reefs, and most crucially, the plankton that are the foundation of the ocean food chain.
The Boston Globe blasted Hillary Clinton in an April 17 editorial as a “climate change no-show.” Not only was she part of the inner circle of the Bill Clinton’s administration that bullied the world with arm-twisting and horse-trading to water-down the Kyoto Accords, which it then failed to submit to the US Senate for ratification. Just last month, she refused to sign a letter from all the Democratic US Senators, except her and John Kerry, asking the EPA for a waiver to allow California, New York, Massachusetts, and several other states to set carbon reduction goals higher than the federal goals.
US military spending is about $660 billion this year—more than the rest of the world combined. Converting about half of US military spending to a Clean Energy Transition would...
• Ignite a global engine of job creation and sustainable economic development.
• Enhance US national security and world peace by spreading good will toward the United States instead of resentment towards us caused by US resource wars for oil.
• Reduce US trade deficits by reducing oil imports.
• Stabilize energy costs at an affordable levels.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
• Create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in New York retrofitting our buildings, industries and infrastructure for the efficient use of renewable energy.
(see Hawkin's Clean Energy Transition platform)
The Bush Administration has been a disaster for the environment, with the abandonment of the Kyoto accords, general disregard for warnings from scientists about global warming and accelerated extinction rates, gutting of the Clean Air Act and energy policies drafted in secret with the help of oil lobbies.
The weakness of the Democrats' climate and energy policies reflects the fact that the Democratic Party has accepted millions of dollars from the same corporate lobbies that also donate to Bush.
Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from major industrial sources are contributing to climate change, which will bring with it serious changes to our way of life and damage America's economy. The Bush Administration's claims that mandatory emissions reductions would be too costly fail to account for the "cost of inaction" on global warming -- costs such as rising sea levels, extreme weather and loss of biodiversity.
Changes in the Earth's climate and the "heat island" effect around big cities are likely to raise temperatures in urban areas like New York City. When the warmer temperatures are combined with air pollution, the result would be a serious public health problem, especially for individuals with illnesses like asthma that are related to air quality. And higher temperatures, especially during summer, would increase the risk of heat related fatalities as we saw in Europe recently. Poorer neighborhoods would suffer more, since they have less greenery and more asphalt, which raises temperatures even more.
The resulting crisis will lead to the breakdown of civil society and global wars over rapidly dwindling resources in the coming decades if we don't act immediately. We've done little to address spiraling energy consumption in the U.S., even while talking about the threat of climate change. We need to lead the world in reducing consumption, but instead our excessive use of fossil fuels is a model for people in nations like India and China who envy our living standards.
As the world's number one emitter of heat-trapping gases, the United States should be a leader in the fight to curb global warming instead of trailing behind the rest of the world. Our voluntary emission reduction measures have failed. In fact, US emissions are nearly 12 percent higher in 2003 than they were in 1990.
2004 Presidential Election – Greens vs. Democrats and Republicans.
The National Green Party contrasted the Democrats' positions with the Greens' positions on global warming:
Democrats: Supports international negotiation, but opposes U.S. signing on to the Kyoto agreement. Kerry and Schumer voted in 1997 for a Senate resolution urging the U.S. not to sign a climate change treaty unless developing nations were also held accountable for emissions. The resolution passed with a 95-0 vote.
Hawkins / Greens: The U.S. must sign on to the Kyoto agreement and work with other nations to strengthen and update its protocols. But the U.S. -- the highest consumer of the world's energy resources -- must implement measures immediately at home to reduce CO2 emission levels drastically and not wait for other nations to act.
Democrats: Stresses independence from Middle Eastern oil sources, in order to address immediate security threats and concerns about gas prices. Like President Bush, Mr. Kerry supports 'clean coal'; supports increased oil drilling in pristine public lands in Alaska (though not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) and construction of new pipelines through Canada to the U.S.; supports increased drilling throughout North America.
Hawkins / Greens: Stress rapid conversion to independence from all fossil fuels, citing recent warnings from scientists that sharp increases of carbon levels in the atmosphere during the past two years might accelerate global warming. Greens agree with the overwhelming majority of scientists, who assert that the original Kyoto goal of a reduction of 5% to 1991 levels is severely inadequate and urge a 70% reduction. Greens oppose reliance on 'clean coal', which instead of creating air pollution will generate toxic ash.
Democrats: Supports nuclear energy; favors massive subsidies to nuclear, oil, and coal corporations. Among Mr. Kerry's top contributors are major investment firms and other corporations with a possible interest in nuclear and fossil fuel industries.
Hawkins / Greens: Opposes nuclear energy, calling it a security and environmental risk, noting the special dangers of slowly degrading nuclear waste; opposes subsidies for nuclear and fossil fuel corporations.
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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