How much has climate been discussed during the last five election’s debates? The answer is hardly at all.
In the face of the refusal of DNC’s Tom Perez not to honor Jay Inslee’s request for one debate out of twelve to be devoted to the life or death problem of climate crisis, we need to look at the necessity for the request.
Statistically, climate crisis has been discussed only 2.5% of the last five election debates which includes the 2000 campaign when the last climate candidate, Al Gore, ran for the White House. If you drop that year with a climate candidate, the last four campaigns yielded just 1.5%.
Emma Foehringer Merchant of Grist has totaled up the scant minutes in which climate is mentioned out of a total 1,500 minutes of the presidential/vice presidential debates going back to 2000 and it is not much.
2016 total: 1 minute, 22 seconds in the first presidential debate, and 4 minutes, 3 seconds in the second. Climate got just a split-second in the vice presidential debate. Clinton only name-dropped climate change once in the final debate, adding a whole two seconds to the grand total.
2012: 0 minutes.
2008: 5 minutes, 18 seconds in two presidential debates. An additional 5 minutes, 48 seconds in a vice presidential debate.
2004: 5 minutes, 14 seconds in a single presidential debate.
2000: 14 minutes, 3 seconds in three presidential debates. 5 minutes, 21 seconds in a vice presidential debate.
In total, over the five election seasons we looked at, climate change and the environment got 37 minutes and 6 seconds on the prime-time stage during the presidential and vice presidential debates. That’s out of more than 1,500 minutes of debate. Not an impressive showing. [emphasis added]
The youth of our nation and around the world expect more from America which used to be represented by the Leader of the Free World. We are represented now by a cheap conman who terms the fossil fuels which will kill us “freedom gas” and “molecules of freedom”. According to Etymology Online, this -dom is derived from Old English dom (judgement, law, statute) and is etymologically close to doom. Others have recognized that the word ‘freedom’ to a person in slavery meant that they were free only to kill themselves thereby denying their owner rights to property over them.
The Democratic Party needs to throw off any fossil fuel chains they may be shackled by and declare themselves truly free. The election is ours if we are both brave and bold.
The choice is yours about what you want this election to be about. If you want the media giants to decide which topics will be discussed and which they will leave under the table, do nothing. However, if you want the most important threat to humanity and the world on the table, make some noise, sign a petition, contact your DNC delegate, and the DNC organization itself.
Even though you may be supporting another presidential candidate, consider donating a buck to Jay Inslee’s campaign to bump him up as the spearpoint of this push to get our climate crisis on the debate stage.
Thank your prefered candidate if they have joined Jay Inslee’s request for a debate devoted to our climate emergency.
The idea for a primary debate dedicated to climate change has been gaining traction since Inslee first proposed it in April. Fellow contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have also backed the idea, as has former Obama Cabinet official Julián Castro. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who recently unveiled his climate pitch, told POLITICO he thought such a debate would be "great."
Candidates also agreeing to a climate debate include Vice-President Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke. If I have left anyone out, please indicate in your comment below, and they will be added.