How a Real Environmental Candidate Would Talk

My fellow Americans, there's been a lot of talk about global climate change lately, and I'm sure you've all read the articles that tell you to use fluorescent light bulbs and keep your tires inflated.

But frankly, ladies and gentlemen, that's just not enough. We're going to have to do some serious restructuring of our way of life, and it will cause disruptions, but if we go about it correctly, the end result will be a richer, healthier, less hectic society. We have a choice. Either we start making far-reaching changes now or change will be forced upon us in catastrophic ways.

As you may know, 1/3 of U.S. carbon emissions are caused by cars and trucks, and yet, most Americans are completely dependent on their cars to go anywhere outside their own homes. This is no accident. Since the late 1940s, we have designed our communities first for the smooth flow of automobile traffic, with no consideration for any other form of transportation. Many of you live in communities where you couldn't walk to the grocery store if you wanted to. Many of you have to drive long distances to work because there is neither public transportation to your job nor affordable housing near your workplace.

If the U.S. is ever to reduce its carbon emissions, we have to reverse this trend, and so, as of this fiscal year, the Department of Transportation will no longer fund any projects that build new highways or expand existing ones. The only federal funds available for highways will be for maintenance, repair, and safety upgrading of existing roads and bridges.

Instead, the bulk of the Department of Transportation's budget will go toward transit and intercity rail. Every community in America will receive funding for public transit appropriate to its needs, whether that's a subway, heavy rail, light rail, buses, vans, or combinations of the above. We want to make it possible for all Americans to meet their needs without driving. When more of us are walking, cycling, or riding transit, our society will be healthier and more relaxed.

Furthermore, train travel is the most fuel-efficient form of transportation for distances up to 600 miles. We will therefore create regional networks of high-speed rail, first connecting the major cities within each region and then connecting the regions so that it is possible to cross America by rail in 24 hours.

At present, our inner cities are composed of the very rich and the very poor. We need to reverse that trend by buidling housing that is affordable to households earning the median income for their regions. We should also retrofit our car-dependent suburbs so that adults can walk to the grocery store and children can walk to school.

The business world needs to do its part as well. It needs to move manufacturing back to the United States to reduce the amount of fuel consumed in bringing manufactured goods from China or wherever. It needs to adopt cleaner fuels and recycle more materials. It needs to site its plants and offices in locations where employees can walk, cycle, or take transit.

Now you're probably wondering where the money for all of this will come from. Well, we've seen time and time again that people--and nations--manage to find the money for things that they really wanted to do. Previous adminstrations have wanted to fund wars and provide tax cuts for the rich. I prefer to meet our own needs and make the rich pay back some of the benefits they have received from living in this business-oriented society.

First of all, I will bring home all troops stationed overseas and give the military bases to the host countries to dispose of as they please. We will no longer be the world's policemen, and in giving up that role, we will save literally hundreds of billions of dollars per year. I will also cancel any weapons systems that exist mainly as toys for engineers and military strategists. All in all, I will cut back the U.S. military until spending is proportionate to the size of our nation, instead of greater than the rest of the world combined.

But instead of destroying jobs, my programs will create jobs. There will be jobs building transit lines and affordable housing, jobs in the manufacturing plants that move back to these shores, and jobs as we adequately fund our schools and health facilities.

We can do it, my fellow Americans. We are a resourceful people, and we will come out stronger and healthier if we have the courage to move forward.

While I agree wholeheartedly that our car based culture and suburban lifestyle is a large contributor to our problems, it's just too simplistic. The building sector contributes about 30 percent of greenhouse gasses, it's very close to the transportation sector. Eating meat contributes. (I eat meat.) We help by tearing down forests for cow grazing. We have to move beyond the sound bytes and address the problem on a wide scale. It's not all about cars but about the many choices we make each day that contributes to the problem.

adopt more environmentally friendly materials and methods.

We can change this with our actions. It's not about the crazy car companies and evil energy companies. They are a huge problem but my point is that we contribute to the problem if we push if off to others. We have to cut energy use and conserve. It's the quickest and most effective way to address the immediate crisis.

many, many people in this country have no choice but to drive, and my speech was about providing alternatives for people who drive not because they're lazy or selfish but because there's no other way to survive in their community.

You tell people, "Don't drive so much" or "Buy a more fuel-efficient car," and then how do you answer them when they say, "But there are no alternatives to driving in my area" or "I can barely afford the car I have"?

You have to provide both carrots (in the form of attractive alternatives to driving) and sticks (in the form of carbon taxes, higher gas prices, stricter land use and environmental laws).

Unfortunately the only person saying anything remotely like this is not (yet) a candidate.

They wouldn't have a chance in hell of winning but it would still feel good to voice my support of their policies

And a Political Party that was really concerned about the Environment would write those reforms into their platform for 2008.

K&R

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