Tuesday, November 20, 2007

John Edwards


Edward’s position on Climate and Energy is to stall global warming, use technology to gain more energy independence, and to use global warming to indirectly create revenue for the United States. He plans to halt global warming by capping the levels of CO2 emissions according to scientific recommendations. This will be achieved through “pollution permits” which will allow companies to exceed their limits. The approximate $10 billion raised through this will be used to create technologies that will be clean, renewable, and efficient and to create 1 million jobs for Americans.

Another portion of his plan involves adopting caps on CO2 emissions in order to give the US credibility and a foothold in the politics behind halting global warming. In order to help developing countries become clean as they adopt a higher standard of living, the plan will also involve the US sharing its technology to prevent newer sources of CO2 emissions before they begin.

A third portion of the plan involves gearing the US towards making cleaner, more efficient and renewable products from everyday products to our methods of transportation. In addition to this, his plan will meet the ever growing demand for electricity by using better technologies to cut various products’ electricity usage.

These ideas seem well founded and are broadly consistent with what many scientists agree with is necessary to halt global warming and minimize any effects on climate change that we have already incurred. However, these goals may be difficult to accomplish to their full extent, and will most likely be boiled down to a few key changes. Nonetheless, as his intentions seem well founded and a few key changes would make a great difference, I give him a B+ for his plan and the likelihood that he will make positive changes.

Sources:
http://johnedwards.com/issues/energy/
http://johnedwards.com/issues/energy/new-energy-economy/
Photo: United States Congress: Official Senate Portrait

-Tyler Huth, Cornell University Student

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