Both Candidates Are Bad on Climate, and You Can Thank Campaign Finance Rules For That
Trump doesn’t take climate change seriously, doesn’t understand the science, and doesn’t have a grasp on how the energy markets work in the U.S., Janet Redman told The Real News when asked about the candidate’s remarks during the second presidential debate.
She also dispelled his claim that there’s such a thing as clean coal.
Redman critiqued both the Democratic and Republican parties for receiving considerable amounts of money from fossil fuel industries. “What we’re seeing is the result of the way campaign finance rules operate,” she said, “So it’s not surprising to me that both sides talk about fracking (the process of using pressure and water to extract gas from rocks) as a solution.”
Building new pipelines and subsidizing fossil fuels with taxpayer dollars will not get us to stay below the 2 degrees that countries agreed on in ratifying the Paris climate deal, she said.
Redman concluded that the American public, particularly millenials, are saying climate change is one of the most critical issues they face today.
“We’ve got to shift public funding to a clean energy economy. It’s what we have to do,” Redman said.
Educator, author, and activist Chris Williams added that “If we’re are really serious about urgently addressing the scale and scope of this problem of climate change, then neither of the candidates offer any solutions that anyone should be voting for.”
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