Climate Change: Elections Quiet Topic

When it comes to climate change, everyone knows that the US is a deeply divided country —
particularly with respect to the science behind the theory. Despite evidence from multiple independent, government and scientific groups, there are still many that don’t believe that climate change exists. As such, for the Republican Party, the subject has been the butt of several jokes, with Mitt Romney even cracking one at the RNC last month to much laughter. However, even President Obama, who was once so idealistic with his environmental pledges, has toned down the rhetoric. Could it be that despite one of the hottest summers on record, droughts, wildfires and rising food prices, no-one really wants to talk about climate change?

With all of the candidate’s talk about looking out for the concerns of the people and national security, they generally aren’t pointing out the effect that climate change will have on the country, or the effect that it is currently having.
According to records, the US has suffered the worst drought since 1956, which has seen crops fails and prices rise, but Romney has spent the last several months denying such facts. Most recently on NBC’s Meet the Press, he irked many scientists and environmentalists by saying: “I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet. I’m in this race to help the American people.”
Considering the impact of climate change, it is shocking that the Republican Party has spent most of this election year denying that it is even happening. Even Romney, who argued for reductions in carbon emissions when he governed Massachusetts, now comes out with comments such as this when asked if the planet is getting hotter: “I don’t know that, but I think that it is. It could be a little. It could be a lot. My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.”
However, while Romney is denying that climate change is even occurring, President Obama is hardly talking up his green initiatives, or the fact that since he has been in office domestic oil and natural gas production has increased every year since 2009. In fact, in 2011, American oil production reached the highest level in nearly a decade and natural gas production reached an all-time high.
But we’ll give it to the president, as he at least knows the benefits of alternative energy and green jobs. “We can’t have an energy strategy for the last century that traps us in the past,” he’s said. “We need an energy strategy for the future – an all-of-the-above strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of American-made energy.”
The question now is: Who will you be voting for come November?