Corporate Media Ignoring Global Warming

Glacier National Park, 1925; Library of Congress
San Francisco Chronicle: Media consign global warming to back burner

The League of Conservation Voters has been tracking the number of questions asked of the presidential candidates on the Sunday news shows and the debates televised by the major networks. Of the more than 2,900 questions asked, only four have mentioned the words "global warming."

The article also lays out the positions of the candidates. The Republicans are laughable, especially that whackjob Ron Paul.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

Supports a cap-and-trade system on emissions and a new $50 billion fund for clean energy, which she predicts could help create 5 million new jobs. She says all new coal plants should have to capture their carbon.

BARACK OBAMA

Wants economy-wide limits on emissions and would require big carbon emitters to pay for the right to emit greenhouse gases. Like Clinton and Edwards, he supports increasing automobile fuel economy to at least 40 mpg within 10 years.

JOHN EDWARDS

Opposes expanding nuclear power and backs a moratorium on new coal plants that don't capture their carbon. Like Clinton and Obama, he would require utilities to get 25 percent of their power from renewables by 2020.

JOHN MCCAIN

Has been a chief sponsor of a bill since 2003 to cap greenhouse gas emissions, but his measure would not go as far as some proposals in Congress in cutting emissions. He believes new coal plants should be equipped to store carbon.

RUDY GIULIANI

Says global warming is real, but he prefers voluntary measures by industry to cut emissions, rather than government regulation. He's called for more investment to boost conservation and energy efficiency.

MITT ROMNEY [Of course he has changed his position!]

Backed a state climate action plan when he was governor of Massachusetts but now says Republicans should not "embrace the ideas of Al Gore." Before the Michigan primary, which he won, he criticized "Washington-dictated" increases in fuel economy.

MIKE HUCKABEE

Supports a cap-and-trade system but has not laid out a detailed plan. He favors drilling for oil offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but only until the United States can wean itself off oil. He supported the recently passed fuel economy increase to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

RON PAUL

Says the jury is still out on whether global warming is human-caused. He advocates markets as the best way to address all environmental problems and has proposed abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency.

Salon.com (watch ad to view): TV news is too cool
Major TV interviewers have asked presidential candidates 3,000 questions -- only six of them have been about global warming.

Jan. 28, 2008 | At the Republican debate Thursday night in Boca Raton, Fla., moderator Tim Russert asked Rudy Giuliani about global warming. "Florida has 1,200 miles of beautiful coast, which can be threatened with climate change, global warming, in a major way, as the world's population goes from 6 billion to 9 billion and the level of greenhouse gases doubles over the next 20 to 30 years," Russert said. "Yet you are against a mandatory cap on greenhouse gases. Why?" Giuliani's jumbled answer included a bevy of buzzwords such as "hybrid vehicles," "biofuels," "carbon sequestration" and "clean coal," before he asserted that U.S. industry would be "crushed" if we curbed our greenhouse gases.

Rudy is such a dope. For a more hopeful view of the future, read former Colorado Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Gary Hart's article, touting the Presidential Climate Action Project in Huffpo, which has many links to climate research and articles. You can sign the Project's statement here.