<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;" class=""><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class="">The state of American climate politics 1996, 2019, 2020</b></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Verdana; -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class="">August 1996 </b></span><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff" class="">“The most painful and expensive way to deal with global climate change will be to ignore it </span><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffb00" class="">until something happens</span><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> </span><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Verdana; -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">that elicits powerful public demands for immediate and Draconian action.”</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Jonathan Lash. “As the earth heats up. “ </span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Journal of Commerce, August 16, 1996.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class="">February 2019 :</b> <b class="">Only 29% alarmed enough to support aggressive action</b></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">“Our prior research has categorized Americans into six groups – <a href="http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #0071b2" class="">Global Warming’s Six Americas</span></a> – based on their climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. </span><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffb00" class="">The “Alarmed” are the most worried about global warming and most supportive of aggressive action</span><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> to reduce carbon pollution. In contrast, the “Dismissive” do not believe global warming is happening or human-caused and strongly oppose climate action.”</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">“In 2013, the Alarmed and Dismissive were an equal size at 14% of U.S. adults. As of the end of 2018, however, the </span><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffb00" class="">Alarmed </span><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">now outnumber the Dismissive more than 3 to 1 </span><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffb00" class="">(29%</span><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> vs. 9%), representing a major shift in these two “issue publics” most engaged in the issue of climate change.”</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #000000" class=""><<<a href="https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/americans-are-increasingly-alarmed-about-global-warming/" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 238);" class="">https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/americans-are-increasingly-alarmed-about-global-warming/</span></a>>></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #000000" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class="">July 2020 :</b><b style="font-weight: normal;" class=""> </b><b class="">Bidens-Sanders compromise leaves policy pieces missing</b></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(67, 73, 170); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class="">CAMPAIGN 2020</b></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class="">Biden has a new climate road map. Here's what's missing</b></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #1155cc" class=""><a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Adam_Aton" class=""><b class="">Adam Aton</b></a></span><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class="">, E&E News reporter </b>Published: Thursday, July 9, 2020</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Climate investment goals, green job targets and key decarbonization deadlines were missing from an environmental platform published yesterday by a joint team of Joe Biden backers and Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters</span><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #666666" class="">.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The gaps point to potential sources of liberal conflict next year if Democrats retake control of the federal government. Even so, most greens and activists hailed the policy recommendations as an improvement over Biden's current plans for global warming.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, allied with Sanders (I-Vt.) and his supporters in an effort to unify the left after Biden outpaced Sanders in the Democratic primary.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The Biden-Sanders task force recommended the former vice president embrace two major benchmarks: 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions from new buildings by 2030.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The task force also suggested several narrower goals, such as five-year deadlines for transitioning all school buses to zero-emissions vehicles and retrofitting 2 million homes for energy efficiency.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">But the task force members — six supporters of Biden and three supporters of Sanders — could not agree on deadlines for ending emissions from big U.S. sources, like transportation or manufacturing.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Nor did they reach a consensus on how much money the federal government should spend on decarbonization, what portion of funds should be earmarked for environmental justice or how many green jobs the government should seek to create.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Other presidential campaigns had set specific targets for some or all of those issues.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Biden campaign staffers guided the task force process, according to one person familiar with its discussions. The source, who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly about private conversations, said the campaign didn't want to recommend some climate policies without buy-in from groups that didn't have representation on the task force, such as labor unions.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">"There was definitely a lot of pretty heavy hand-holding from the campaign and some of the top Biden surrogates that were more in touch with the vice president and his senior advisers," the person said.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">One Biden surrogate, Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), was added to the task force after its initial formation, according to campaign statements — making it the only group with nine members.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Other Biden-Sanders groups looked at topics such as criminal justice, immigration and health care.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Lamb has a more dovish reputation toward fossil fuels than the other Biden-appointed members, such as Gina McCarthy, the former EPA administrator who now heads the Natural Resources Defense Council, or Florida Rep. Kathy Castor, the chairwoman of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which last week issued its own climate policy framework with more detailed targets (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1063481681/" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" class=""><b class=""><i class="">Greenwire</i></b></span></a>, June 30).</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Lamb's and Biden's campaigns did not respond to questions about his appointment.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">For some problems, the task force issued statements of intention instead of quantifiable commitments. One example was methane. The task force recommended "robust federal standards" and "targeted support" for repairing leaking oil and gas infrastructure, but it didn't specify what those standards or support might be.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Other recommendations amounted to seeking more recommendations.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">For instance, the first transportation bullet point urges Biden to "immediately convene California, due to its unique authority, and other states with labor, auto industry, and environmental leaders to inform ambitious actions that will enable the United States to lead the way in building a clean, 21st century vehicle fleet and stronger domestic manufacturing base powered by high-wage, union jobs."</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Some specific recommendations drew attention to what had been omitted. The task force called for an end to international coal financing — an insufficient goal when "ALL fossil fuel financing — including all oil and gas — must be ended, in the US and globally," Friends of the Earth said.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">RL Miller, founder of Climate Hawks Vote and a newly elected member of the Democratic National Committee, said she was unimpressed with several aspects of the plan — particularly its call for installing 500 million solar panels, a holdover from Hillary Clinton's 2016 climate plan.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">"Things have happened since 2016. Science-y things. Big scary wildfire things. Hurricane things. Trumpy things. And you can't update from the 2016 Hillary Clinton platform?" she tweeted.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement and a task force member, said the recommendations "move the needle a lot, especially on environmental justice."</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Biden's previous plan called for net-zero emissions by 2050. But he had few intermediate deadlines, besides a goal of cutting building emissions in half by 2035, and no target date for ending electricity emissions. Plans for both are much stronger, Prakash said, and the stage is set for an ambitious clean cars standard.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The task force also brought new ideas to Biden's campaign, including an equity screen on federal spending and permitting decisions, a White House Office of Climate Mobilization that reports directly to the president, and a "cash for clunkers"-type program to incentivize zero-emissions vehicles.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Many of those ideas came from the presidential campaigns of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), whose policy staffers since have formed the policy and advocacy group Evergreen Action.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Evergreen's co-founder, Jamal Raad, praised the task force for embracing the three-legged framework of environmental justice, clean energy standards and federal investments.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Although the recommendations missed a chance to embrace other Inslee policies — such as a green bank to invest in clean energy — Raad said it nevertheless amounted to a "strong blueprint."</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The task force did not mention hydraulic fracturing, which many on the left want to ban. Biden opposed a fracking ban throughout the primary, and the task force operated within that constraint.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Another omission from the task force was any direct mention of the Green New Deal. That idea's most high-profile supporter, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), was a co-chair of the task force, and its recommendations to Biden echo the Green New Deal's framework.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">That climate framework has become shorthand for government overreach in conservative media, and Biden's campaign has been wary of alienating moderates and older voters as he looks to defeat Trump.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">"Of course, like in any collaborative effort, there are areas of negotiation and compromise," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after the recommendations were published.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">"But I do believe that the Climate Task Force effort meaningfully & substantively improved Biden's positions."</span></p><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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