The race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has been heating up as of late. Our planet has been heating up as well, but don't expect any of the Republican candidates to support that notion.
As Super Tuesday draws near, the frontrunners in the race have let their anti-environmental stances shine. Let's break down the views of the three leaders in the Republican race, starting with Rick Santorum.
Santorum clearly leads the anti-environment charge, as seen in the above video of his interview with Glenn Beck.
Oil?
"Drill everywhere."
Coal?
"Absolutely."
And when asked about global warming, Santorum insists that there is no such phenomenon, chalking up the human contribution to climate change as just one of "hundreds of factors."
Listening to Santorum explain how many years it will take to suck the planet dry of oil and coal makes me cringe, but I do respect his straightforward stance. Newt Gingrich, on the other hand, has not been so clear on his environmental policy.
"That's probably the dumbest single thing I've done in recent years," Gingrich says in the above video, regarding his decision to appear in an ad with Nancy Pelosi regarding climate change.
He then explains that he doesn't know if global warming is actually occurring, noting that he's an "amateur paleontologist." What's interesting is that Gingrich co-wrote a book in 2007 that outlines 10 strategies for dealing with climate change.
Though conservative in his ideas, Gingrich clearly saw climate change as a prevalent issue in 2007. So what's changed since then? Clearly the economic downturn of the past few years has forced Gingrich and the other candidates to gear their policies toward bettering employment.
Environmental preservation continues to be perceived by Republicans as the arch nemesis of job creation. Mitt Romney's view of the Enviornmental Protection Agency and his environmental policy, illustrated in part through the video below, confirm this trend.
Whether or not the Republican candidates recognize the urgency of climate change, one thing remains constant going into the 2012 election: Economy is king.
Posts in The Alligreener appear on Fridays.
