TheGreenFront presents: This Day in Climate History (hat tip to Brad Johnson) November 4, 1988: Discussing the conflict of visions at the heart of the 1988 presidential campaign, the New York Times notes: Neither candidate has a record in office as a committed environmentalist. [Vice President George] Bush, for example, headed a Reagan Administration task force that recommended relaxing many environmental regulations. [Massachusetts Governor Michael] Dukakis sought waivers of Federal requirements that Boston Harbor be cleaned up. Yet both candidates are campaigning as strong conservationists, and protection of the environment has become a widely discussed issue for the first time in a Presidential campaign. Mr. Bush ran a series of television advertisements attacking Mr. Dukakis for pollution in Boston Harbor. Mr. Dukakis, saying he was not at fault, responded with ads blaming Reagan budget cuts for the harbors pollution and criticizing the Vice President for opposing renewal of the Clean Water Act and strong regulation of corporate polluters. Mr. Dukakis has won the endorsement of most national environmental organizations. The League of Conservation Voters, the political arm of the main environmental groups, gives Mr. Dukakis a rating of B, Mr. Bush a grade of D+, based on their records and stated positions. Neither man has promised to spend much new money on the environment. But both have endorsed a program to reduce pollution that causes acid rain, both say they would bring an end to ocean dumping and both promise to call a meeting of world leaders to address the threat of global warming caused by man-made gases. nytimes/1988/11/04/us/emotional-issues-are-the-1988-battleground.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm November 4, 1995: In his weekly radio address, President Clinton declares: Because we believe that what God created we must not destroy, each of us has a sacred obligation to pass on a clean planet to future generations. For nearly three decades, all Americans have agreed we must do what we have to protect our environment. And America is cleaner and healthier because of it. Since our environmental laws were put in place, toxic emissions by factories have been cut in half; lead levels in childrens blood have dropped 70 percent; Lake Erie, for example, once declared dead, is now teeming with fish. But all this progress is now at risk. In the last few months, a small army of lobbyists for polluters has descended on Capitol Hill, mounting a full-scale assault on our environmental and public health protections. And this Congress has actually allowed these lobbyists to sit down and rewrite important environmental laws to weaken our safeguards. cnn/US/9511/clinton_radio/11-05/c_script.html November 4, 2008: Barack Obama defeats John McCain to become the 44th President of the United States; in his victory speech, he notes, I know you didnt do this just to win an election, and I know you didnt do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. youtu.be/jJfGx4G8tjo November 4, 2009: On the same day that Senators John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham announce a (doomed) plan to ensure that climate-change legislation makes it through the Senate, MSNBCs Rachel Maddow interviews Al Gore about the bill. swampland.time/2009/11/04/kerry-graham-lieberman-launch-climate-change-framework/ youtu.be/HlRxkK7jPN0 (Part 1) youtu.be/ymB1TIkcit8 (Part 2) youtu.be/uLZOBj3dLmg (Part 3) November 4, 2010: On MSNBCs Countdown, Gasland director Josh Fox discusses Karl Roves declaration that as a result of the 2010 midterm elections, climate is gone as a campaign issue, as is the political controversy over fracking. thinkprogress.org/default/2010/11/04/128346/rove-climate-is-gone/ youtu.be/ZIlSne-len8
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:06:21 +0000
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