In North Carolina, Democratic Party Senate nominee Elaine Marshall is closing on incumbent Senator Richard Burr. While polling shows Marshall trailing some eight points, that is five points closer than just a week ago. North Carolinians are waking up to the election and taking notice of the stark contrasts between the two candidates.
One of those arenas of (extremely) stark contrast: Clean Energy Opportunities and Climate Change Science.
In a year where every single Republican nominee for Senate is a Climate Change Zombie, typically rejecting the basics of science and obstinately opposing action to address climate change, no one should be surprised that one of top recipients of fossil-foolish contributions, Richard Burr, fits right with the ranks of science deniers.
Sen. Richard Burr, up for re-election, is a cautious global warming denier:
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said he is skeptical of recent reports showing a threat of rising sea levels in his home state. [E&E Daily, 3/29/06]
Burr also opposes the EPA finding that greenhouse gases are pollution and opposes a cap-and-trade market to reduce global warming pollution: “While the figures vary, it is clear this massive new federal bureaucracy would lead to higher energy costs for North Carolina families and businesses with little measurable benefit for the environment.”
Burr is also a signatory of the Koch industries’ funded “No Climate Tax” pledge. As a short reminder, the Koch brothers might just be the largest funders of anti-science syndrome attacks on climate science around the globe.
Elaine Marshall, on the other hand, represents a strong voice in support of the responsible use of science in public policy decision-making and on the value of clean-energy solutions for boosting North Carolina’s economy. Simply put, the quality of Marshall’s energy and environment issue page simply rates repeating:
Global climate change is the most pressing environmental and national security issue facing us today. We need an energy policy that reduces the pollution that causes global warming and, at the same time, lessens our dependence on foreign oil. The task is great, but the challenge also provides the opportunity to create new jobs right here in North Carolina.
The solution lies in shifting our infrastructure from a carbon-based system to one based on clean energy, a change that will result in a dramatic shift in our economy.
The benefits that North Carolina will see are endless. With research facilities that stretch from the Research Triangle Park to Charlotte, North Carolina can be a leader in research and development for the technology that will provide clean, renewable energy. This work will lead to new industries and new jobs, many of which will stay here in our state.
I believe the nation’s policy on energy and global climate change must:
- Reduce carbon emissions. We should no longer have to rely on foreign oil to provide the energy we need in the United States. We can create cleaner energy here, and put Americans to work providing it.
- Ensure investments in renewable energy, not just in wind and solar power technologies, but also in biomass and biofuel technologies that will allow us to tap into our state’s rich agricultural base. An investment in this area can make farming more efficient.
- Ensure adequate funding to update our electric grid so that renewable energy can get from production sources to our homes and businesses.
- Provide incentives for conservation efforts and those companies who help consumers create them. Already, one North Carolina company, Durham-based Cree Inc., is leading the way in LED lighting products. Researchers and entrepreneurs here should have the chance to create similar businesses and job opportunities.
Elaine Marshall quite clearly understands the challenges that climate change creates. She also has an understanding of the opportunities that taking action to mitigate climate change can create — with an eye toward the “endless” opportunities for her fellow North Carolinians.
Richard Burr, rather than looking toward the 21st century, seems complacent in looking back toward the 19th century, ignoring the risks we face (peak oil, health problems from burning fossil fuels, economic damage due to sending $1+ billion / day overseas for oil, climate chaos) and blowing off the opportunities there for the seizing.
Across this country, there are too many stark contrasts between those who resemble an ostrich, happily digging their heads into the sand, and those who are looking forward toward the future to help create a stronger and more prosperous union.
When presented, clearly, those contrasts, the American public will have the opportunity for a real choice. Considering how strongly Americans oppose subsidies for fossil-foolish interests and how strongly they wish to embrace clean-energy options, we know where that choice would fall.
That reality is why the Republican Party and their Corporatist backers are fighting so hard to confuse the situation, with funding deceptive (and outright) false advertising. This is why the fossil fuel interests are spending so heavily on campaigns across the country. The lies are obscuring the starkness of the choice. With most of the traditional media complicit in buying into Republican talking points about the election — no matter the reality of the situation — and legitimate frustration about the painful situation so many Americans find themselves in with high unemployment, the “Republican wave” seems a preordained reality to many pundits. The reality of Marshall’s surge, with several more weeks to go, gives a glimmer of hope that Americans are waking up to the stark nature of the choices before them and will reject the hateful lies to support those who will work to create a stronger and more prosperous Union.