Candidates Stake Positions on Global Warming

from the Hartford Courant:

The contrast could not be more striking: Every Democratic candidate for president has put forward an aggressive package of policies and statements addressing global warming and has made it a cornerstone of their campaign.

Of the Republicans, just one, John McCain, comes close to matching the Democrats' fervor for the issue. The GOP contenders focus instead on policies aimed at achieving energy independence — a goal that dates to the energy crisis of the 1970s.

The contrast in this primary season reflects an ongoing divide in the nation. Twice as many Democrats as Republicans say the environment will be a very important factor in their vote this year, according to a survey conducted in October for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

That split also is apparent between liberals and conservatives in both parties.

While environmental issues in general rank lower than the more immediate concerns of most citizens — the war in Iraq, the economy, health care, jobs, terrorism — the subject is gaining attention.

Most Americans — three-quarters or four-fifths, depending on the survey — now say they believe global warming is happening. How much humans have to do about it and how urgently we should do something about it, though, are in dispute.

Click on the link below for summaries of where the candidates stand on environmental issues, primarily on global warming and what to do about it. For more detail, go to the candidates' own websites.

To get an idea of what is on the minds of the electorate, check out http://www.people-press.org/. Two good sites with reports on where the candidates stand are the League of Conservation Voters, http://www.lcv.org/; and Grist, an online environmental magazine, http://www.grist.org/.

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