Democrats appearing at CNN's marathon 7-hour global warming forum have a plan to solve a changing climate: Ban everything!
Over the course of the television extravaganza, Democrats' leading 2020 presidential candidates floated a variety of proposals to cut Americans' energy use and, ostensibly, to stop the climate from changing.
Among them: Bans on plastic straws, red meat, incandescent lightbulbs, gas-powered cars, nuclear energy, off-shore drilling, fracking, natural gas exports, coal plants, and even "carbon" itself.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), asked if she supports banning fracking, said "of course."
"There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking, so yes. And starting — and starting with what we can do on day one around public lands, right? And then there has to be legislation, but yes — and this is something I've taken on in California. I have a history of working on this issue. And to your point, we have to just acknowledge that the residual impact of fracking is enormous in terms of the impact on the health and safety of communities."
When she was asked if she'd ban plastic straws, she also answered affirmatively: "I think we should, yes. I’m going to be honest."
Sen. Warren said she'd ban new nuclear plants: "We’re not going to build any nuclear power plants and we’re going to start weaning ourselves off of nuclear energy and replacing it with renewable fuels. We’re going to get it all done by 2035."
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he'd ban fracking, off-shore drilling, and, eventually, fossil fuels themselves: "Absolutely, yes, I will ban offshore drilling. Why? Because, again, where have we seen these leases — this is why I’ve been fighting, doing demonstrations on the Jersey shore, to stop new licenses. Because when we know they drill, they spill. ... If my goal is to get our electricity zero carbon emission, that means phasing off of fossil fuels. If we’re going to get there to net zero carbon emissions by 2045 for our whole nation we have to get off of fossil fuels. So why would I allow new leases? But this is not just offshore drilling, this is things like fracking on public land.”
Sen. Harris said she would update government food guidelines to try to phase out eating red meat: "The answer is yes. I’ll also say this. The balance that we have to strike here, frankly, is about what government can and should do around creating incentives and then banning certain behaviors. To be honest I love cheeseburgers from time to time. I just do. And, but there has to be also what we do in terms of creating incentive that’s we will eat in a healthy way. We will encourage moderation. And we’ll be educated about the effect of our eating habits on our environment. And we have to do a much better job of that. And the government has to do a much better job of that.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) went the furthest, saying we should try to minimize human life itself to help the environment. Sanders said he'd use taxpayer money to help fund 3rd world population-control programs: "The answer has everything to do with the fact that women in the United States of America, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies and make reproductive decisions. And the Mexico City agreement, which denies American aid to those organizations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control to me is totally absurd."
Former Vice President Joe Biden said he'd shut down coal plants and work to eliminate gas-powered cars: "Everybody knows where the world is going. Just like we set out the rules for what kind of plant, coal-burning plants — we have to shut down the ones we have but nobody is going to build a new one. Guess what? ... We have to vehicles off the road as quickly as we can but that create a significant number of jobs and opportunities for people.”
Most incredible: CNN asked most candidates if they support a "carbon-free America" and every candidate answered in the affirmative. How America can become "carbon-free" as every living thing on Earth contains carbon was never discussed or explained.
For more, check out the montage above. (On YouTube)
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