April 3, 2019

Hickenlooper's March 26 Op-Ed in the WaPo - Great stuff!

I think Hickenlooper brought up some good points. Here are some excerpts from his editorial:

Climate change is a defining challenge of our time, and yet we have a president who is taking us in the wrong direction. He withdrew our country from the Paris climate accords. He is expanding drilling on public lands. He is forfeiting our country’s leadership, changing our national symbol from the eagle to an ostrich, burying our head in the sand in the face of this global threat...

Amid this technological innovation, we need to ensure that energy is not only clean but also affordable. Millions of Americans struggle with “energy poverty.” Too often, low-income Americans must choose between paying for medicine and having their heat shut off. Their situation is all the more urgent given the ongoing attempts by President Trump to cut programs such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program...

That is why I support the concept of a Green New Deal — the idea that we should launch multiple major federal initiatives to tackle climate change and reorient our economy around clean energy. The idea has been around for at least a decade and will be one of my highest priorities as president.The federal government should also build on what we have done in Colorado. In 2014, we became the first state to impose its own regulation on methane emissions, which are 25 times worse for climate change than carbon dioxide, and we did it by working with both environmentalists and industry. We implemented new standards for low-emission vehicles and expanded Colorado’s renewable energy standard, doubling the goal for rural electric producers. We also built public support for unprecedented expansions of light rail and the retrofitting of buildings to save energy. At the same time, we created more than 10,000 clean-energy jobs — just as we can create millions of clean-energy jobs across the country if we take the right steps.

more - [link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/26/john-hickenlooper-green-new-deal-sets-us-up-failure-we-need-better-approach/?utm_term=.80fa6c4260d7|

I love that changing our national bird from the eagle to the ostrich. LOL!

As a former geologist, Hickenlooper knows where-of he speaks - probably more than any other democratic candidate to enter the fray so far. He knows the energy industry; he understands the science of global warming and he has plenty of empathy for those who struggle to make ends meet in these times of austerity for the common folk and free rides for the billionaires.

What's not to love?