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Friend,
Did you see that? Last night five Democrats took the stage for their first debate of the presidential primary, and all of them called for action on climate. Every. Single. One.
Lots of people are debating who won, who lost and who had the best zinger.1 But if there's one big win from last night's debate it's that voters got to see and hear about climate action on national TV -- and 15.3 million viewers saw it!2
Click here to watch a replay of the debate including comments and commentary for Environmental Action members and friends.
The one question on climate change that Anderson Cooper asked came at the end of the show, and was once again lumped in with a block of nonsense, like whether Bernie Sanders has ever smoked marijuana. But perhaps the best news of the night was that candidates didn't wait for Cooper to ask - they brought up climate change in their opening statements, in their answers on national defense, the economy and more!
As the Sierra Club said last night "Sooooo that was more about #Climate action in the OPENING STATEMENTS of the 1st #DemDebate than 5 HOURS of #GOPDebate." A moment later Bill McKibben agreed, quipping "What's this climate change stuff they keep talking about? Must be important."
When Cooper finally got to the question at about climate change, Martin O'Malley had a great answer when he said, "We did not land a man on the moon with an all of the above strategy." Other candidates agreed that climate was a huge issue, with Bernie Sanders calling it our biggest national security threat and saying "Scientific community is telling us if we do not act on climate, the planet may not be inhabitable." Hillary Clinton got in on the green action too, re-iterating her opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and boasting of her action "hunting the Chinese" to get them to agree to an international global warming deal.
It was really a great night of television for the planet and the climate. And there's no doubt, as one viewer put it "4/5 candidates talked about the problem [of climate change] in their opening. What a difference 4 years makes." It's true, and it's thanks to the advocacy, questions and persistence of members like you that last night's conversation had a LOT to do with our climate and our environment.
Click here to watch a replay of the debate including comments and commentary for Environmental Action members and friends.
Thanks,
Drew and the #AskOnClimate crew at Environmental Action
PS - Want to see more debates include lots of conversation on climate change? Sign here to tell all the moderators to ask tough, detailed questions on climate change.
1 - John Cassidy, Hillary Clinton Wins Big in Vegas, The new Yorker, October 14, 2015
2 - CNN Money, Democratic debate hits record 15.3 million viewers. October 14, 2015 |
