Edwards: "We need a president who will talk about these issues to not just friendly audiences, which you are."

"We need a little backbone and courage to do it. When I look at Washington, I see politicians who are trying to do the right thing but they are overrun because they spend half of their time chasing money and I see the lobbyists working to make sure America stays dependent on foreign oil...2 weeks from now America will be sending a rep to Bali with no ideas. It is embarrassing."

"I am proud that I came out early and aggressively with an energy plan. Cap and trade system does not go far enough...We have had enough of double talk and we need to be honest with the American people. Carbon caps will have an impact on the cost of fossil fuels...Right now we're not just turning a blind eye to global warming, we're missing opportunities to lead the world...Just saw a headline: 'Foreign firms expect windfall dotting America with windfarms.' Why are foreign firms doing this?...Spark new era of innovation and competition...low interest loans to homeowners and businesses...new market for energy efficiency. Utilities make profits by selling energy, no incentive to encourage lower energy use...This will not be a cakewalk. This will mean higher energy prices...I think America is ready for a president who asks them to sacrifice and asks them to be patriotic about something other than war." Another line from a stump speech that translates well to energy policy."

"This is the moral test of our generation. Will we leave a better world than we had to our children? Are we willing to say the time for compromise and half-measures is over...It's time for our party, the Democratic Party, to stand up for what we believe in." An interesting contrast to Clinton's pragmatism.

"We can usher in a new era of American innovation. It's not time for political calculaiton." He's getting a partial standing O.

Q&A time.

Curwood: How would you get America to sacrifice?

Edwards: The government has become corrupt and we need to be honest about that. Why does America not have universal healthcare? Drug company and pharmaceutical company lobbyists. Why do we not have a responsible energy policy? Oil company lobbyists and special interests...it's about reclaiming our democracy. When we have a president who believes in America...take the p ower out of the hands of oil companies, Exxon/Mobil..." Huge applause.

Nichols: Re sacrifice, you'll see the burdens are not shared equally. For communities who are inordinately impacted by getting rid of coal companies.

Edwards: America should not be building more coal power plants until we can sequester the emissions...We should generate a min. of $30 billion in cap and trade system, we go in and revitalize communities...Transition from carbon to green economy: we can generate 1 or 2 million jobs." (Clinton said 5 million before FWIW.)

Curwood is asking about his proposal to spend cap and trade money on revitalizing communities.

Sizeable chunk will invest in solar, wind, technologies to make the transition. Some of the money should be spent to help the communities adversesly affected.

Roberts is asking about global affects of changes.

Edwards: "We're doing nowhere close to what we should be doing...We need to be willing to invest in a way that we're not investing today...drought resistant technologies."

"You speak about the poorest people being impacted disproportionately by the changes, but that's the way it works with everything. The idea that US can be a leader on global warming without being a moral leader on all issues, misunderstands what leadership is." Well-said.

Restoring our image in the world: "The world needs to see us as a moral force in the world again."

Curwood: How do you do that? [he seems to be in a bit of a rut with his questions]

Edwards: "We have an enormous responsibility...The world needs to see America is willing to do responsible things. Now we are seen as a force of bad, we need to be a force of good again...We need to reverse things that have done so much damage. I would close Guantanamo, no more rendition, no more secret prisons, the notion that we're having a debate over what form of torture is permissible, this is not our America and we need to take it back." He did a good job of sneaking those things into a global warming forum.

Nichols: The reality is that none of the bills in congress is anything close to what you're asking for. What would you do?

Edwards: "I don't see it as an either or...The most powerful tool the president has is not to sit around a conference table in Washington DC with lobbyists or politicians who are afraid of their own shadow...If we do what so many have done before on civil rights, equal rights, if we lead, the politicians will follow like lemmings. We need to show leadership...I don't think we have to accept less...The way these things get weeded down is through lobbyists. We need to take their power away...We need to have publicly funded elections and take the money out of politics."

If you believe in the progressive agenda, it is true that there is practical politics involved and we do need to elect more Democrats. I wish I could say America fell in love with the Democratic Party. I don't think so. They want change...I can go into any district in the country and I can move our numbers and get more Democrats elected.

Roberts: How do you cut through the media filter?

Edwards: We have an enormous pulpit running for president. People understand there's a problem, they don't get that immediate change is required. I, more than most, know how difficult it is to break through the media filter." He got some big applause lines by calling for an end to media consolidation and the influence of big conglomerates.

--------------------------

Hillary Clinton is up now.

Clinton: Raving about California's leadership on the environment. Said this is the perfect place to have this forum. A couple of points. Couldn't have had a perfect timing, unfortunately. Climate change report: abrupt and irreversible effects of global warming.

We can no longer abide the disgraced view of ignoring climate crisis. We can not afford to fiddle while the world warms. It's not only the impact on our health...it's everywhere one looks. Recent oil spill that impacted the Bay area. How do we start? What not to do: the last 7 years. A pres who has dodged and dissembled on the most important issue. We are now more dependent on foreign oil than we were on 9/11. It's time for a new beginning. It's time for a president who respects the climate crisis instead of one who muzzles climate scientists...I know how hard this will be." She's now referencing her experience. Goals:

reduce 3 goals: 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050

cut 2/3 of oil importation by 2040

carbon based economy to a green economy

She talks fast.

Efficiency is just the beginning. "We need to enlist everybody. That's how America solves big problems...Setting a market-based cap and trade system..."From the moment I take office on Jan. 20, 2009 {big applause} I will issue executive order to make every federal building carbon neutral. Her speech here is a stark contrast to Kucinich's. She's all about what she will actually do as president, she's grounded in reality, Kucinich was in the clouds.

"Green collar jobs. We're going to put 5 million Americans to work with green collar jobs...Energy efficiency bonds. After 9/11 this president said go shopping. As president, I'll say 'Go Green.'" An energy plan is just a plan without the strength and experience to make it happen." The slogan is versatile I see. And she closes with "So if you're ready for change, I'm ready to lead."

She's getting a standing O.

Curwood: (more skepticism, rightfully so.) The last 3 presidents said they would do things too. "These three men..."

Clinton: "That's the problem right there."

Big laugh and applause.

Clinton is ripping on Bush. "I don't believe he itended to do anything about the environment. He ran as a compassionate conservative and he was neither." 3 differences between then and now. 1. People's awareness is much greater than even just a few years ago. "Combination of the news and people's experiences." 2. "Significant that we are moving toward a global commitment on this. Americans don't like to see us lagging behind everyone else...We need to reassert our global significance." 3. "We need to have a commitment from a president when the citizens and the congress is ready to act." True.

One example: Mntreal protocol to reduce damage to the ozone, had an initial agmt that was adequate, beginning to be implemented around the world, then Margaret Thatcher convened an international meeting to go even further and they did it. "I would meet every 3 months with leaders of top greenhouse gas emitting countries -- responsible for 70% of carbon emissions."

She pledges to reduce US carbon emissions at the end of her presidency.

Nichols: How will you counter the inevitable ads and pushback from the right?

Clinton: I've spoken about it in Iowa and New Hampshire to get it into the political bloodstream, to make it a voting issue.

There is a heckler in the audience. She just smacked him down: "were you invited to speak here this afternoon!?" They're still talking. Umm, security?

Clinton: We need to elect more Democrats. We need to expand our majorities in the House and Senate...There is no way that we will ever produce a piece of legislation that we can get through congress that every one of you will agree with." She's advocating incremental change and criticizing calls for purity. "Perfect becomes the enemy of the good." Basically an ode to pragmatism. Again, Dennis Kucinich's polar opposite.

Roberts: Lieberman/Warner cap and trade bill. Good example of pragmatism vs. principle. It has bipartisan consensus but environmentalists don't like it. Will you vote for it?

Clinton: "The bill needs a lot of improvement. It's not the bill I would write. It's not the bill Senator Boxer would write. I'm a co-sponsor of the Boxer/Sanders bill...Boxer is trying to improve the bill. No matter what comes out of committee, there will be a fight on the floor. Questions that we are asking what is the strongest bill that we can get out of committee? I can't say whether I'll vote for the bill since I don't know what the bill will be." She's putting it on Boxer. This is "Boxer's strategy." "I'm getting attacked in Iowa in an ad that's saying that if I don't vote against the bill in committee there is something wrong with me. This is not helpful." She then reverted to the dreaded Bush line "this is hard work." Note to Clinton: as true as it might be, pick a new line.

Curwood: How would you restore America's credibility around the world?

Clinton: "We have to start by creating a process where the US leads again...immediately move to convene the highest emitters in the world, including China and India."

"We need to show countries like China and India that we are not trying to choke their development...It's difficult to listen to the Bush administration because it's a one-way conversation." Referencing Al Gore's Nobel Prize win is a guaranteed applause line.

Kucinich: "Great to be at a presidential forum that's not sponsored by the coal industry, as the last one was."

"I will bring an environmental consciousness that is demonstrated by the choices I make in my life. A small home in Columbus, a Ford Focus, a vegan diet that is respectful of the environment...We have to look at 'how do you live?'"

He wants to lead us to a new level of environmental consciousness. "The choices each of us makes affects all of us...The responsibility each of us has to repair our relationship with nature, to repair the planet...The US must lead the way in abolishiing all nuclear weapons."

"Connection between global warring and global warming is oil...The real cause of our lives is to heal the world...a call to conscience, a call for a new vision of what's possible...infusing environmental consciousness into every aspect of government. Every dept of the federal government to be involved in sustainability." Transportation -- mass transit. Housing - incentivize the creation of wind and solar microtechnologies, create millions of jobs, reducing our carbon footprint and improving our economy." Health - universal healthcare with a focus on preventive care. Connection between health, diet and environment. Trade. Labor. Interior. Very interesting how he's drawing the interconnectivity between care for the environment and every aspect of our lives. Between the health of the planet with the health of its citizens.

As president, he would call on the American people to take action as President Kennedy did.

Curwood: You have an ambitious plan, but how would you do it?

Kucinich: Go out around the country and campaign for it. "If you have a president who's really ready to bring about transformation, you take it to the people...Elect a president who's not tied to these interest groups." Sounding very Edwardsian.

Kucinich won't sit down. "Thanks for the chair, I'm not a chair guy."

Mary Nichols: More skepticism about getting things actually done. "Dynamics seem to be mired down in the congress."

Kucinich: "I understand the resistance that exists. It's there, it's real. But imagine a president not tied to any of these interest groups. I'll go over the heads of congress directly to the American people. If you're ready for that kind of president, I'm ready for you." Now he's sounding like Hillary Clinton.

"These interests want to keep mining coal, building nuclear plants, buying oil and fighting wars over it. If congress wants to stay with those interests, I'll go to the American people and return power to the people...We have the power right in our hands to change our destiny. It's a question of whether we're ready to use it or not. The audience LOVES Kucinich.

Kucinich: "We have to change our monetary policy. A guaranteed annual income for everybody...an income level that wipes out poverty, wipes out hunger." His idea is to mitigate the loss of jobs that would result from his eroding the coal and nuclear industries. Ummm, Dennis, I think you've lost the panel.

Curwood: Back to earth, Dennis. How would you actually implement that?

Kucinich: We can make one of 2 decisions. We can give up or show leadership. He's going on about interest groups, no actual specifics of how he'd do this in any practical way. "Clean coal is an oxymoron." "Millions of jobs: wind and solar industries. Incentive: lower utility bill. Will the utility companies be happy? No. We can not let them shape our energy policy.

Roberts: How will you soften the blow for populations around the world who will be hit hardest by global warming but did the least to cause it?

Kucinich: "We cause 25% of carbon emissions. We have to accept the consequences of the indifference of our government." He'll go to the developing world. "There is a moral issue here about the effect of our choices on others." He's flailing a bit here so he's going for applause lines: "The attack on Iraq was about war." Trade policy must be changed. "Environmental quality principles. Trade deals conditioned on air quality."

Kucinich is closing this thing on his own. Pretty rousing actually. Shorter Dennis Kucinich: We are all one. We are all connected.

As for the climate and energy plans of the rest of the candidates, both Democratic and Republican, Grist has links to interviews and fact sheets for all except {shock!} Giuliani and Romney who have given no interviews. My favorite line from the Republican factsheets has to be this from Tom Tancredo's:

Says Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is the last book of fiction he's read.

More in a bit...

Update [2007-11-17 17:18:32 by Todd Beeton]: Revised schedule: Kucinich at 2:20pm, Clinton at 2:50pm, Edwards at 3:20pm. Also, it looks like Edwards may be taking questions from us directly at around 4pm. Carol Browner, EPA Administrator under Bill Clinton, will be fielding questions for Senator Clinton.

By the way, I'm joined here by David Dayen from calitics, hekebelos who's liveblogging at dailykos, thereisnospoon and the kk at Heading Left and Vernon Lee.

This thing is running way late. The moderator, Steve Curwood from Living On Earth on NPR, is addressing the forum. He's making reference to the fact that this forum comes on the same day that the latest latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was released. The upshot: things are much worses than previously thought.

By the way, all the travel of panelists, moderator and participants is carbon neutral.

Dave Roberts from grist spoke, calling Tim Russert out: "Tim Russert has had candidates on MTP 16 times and asked 300 questions, the word climate change has not passed his lips." Then Susan Smart from the California League of Conservation Voters spoke about their goal of making global warming a priority in the Presidential campaign. Every candidate of both parties was invited to participate. Only three showed up.

Curwood is introducing Laurie David, producer of An Inconvenient Truth and environmental activist. David begins by referencing a conversation with a NASA scientist. She asked him what he really thinks about global warming. His response: "We are already guaranteed 2 degrees of warming but we dare not go above that." She was stunned by this because scientists are notoriously cautious. "Solving global warming can be America's and humanity's finest moment. Continuing to ignore it can be our worst." Amen.

She's now introducing Mayor Anotnio Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa: "I know the press is focused on Iowa but these candidates came west because they know we can no longer ignore this problem." He's talking about the SF oil spill and our SoCal fires. Ripping on the Bush admin for redacting report on climate change. "It's time we had someone in the White House that actually believes in science." Echoing Hillary's "Bush admin war on science" language (he's endorsed Hillary.) I expect she'll be using that very phrase several times today. "I'm looking forward to a triple dose of truth today."

Curwood: Format: 10 minutes to lay out their program how they'll lead to resolve global climate change. Then for 20 minutes, they'll each have a conversation with the panel. "Sound bytes give us heat but not much light and with this issue, we have enough heat already."

Panelists: Curwood, Dave Roberts and Mary Nichols, Chair of CA Air & Resources Board.

If the rest of the country had California's air quality, we'd be complying with Kyoto right now.

Edwards press avail.

Would you vote against the Warner/Lieberman bill?

It's clearly doesn't do enough. My view is it needs to be made stronger.

Greatest difference between you and Hillary Clinton on this issue?

This is a huge priority for me. Reduce the influence of corrupting powers in Washington. Different positions on nuclear power.

DDay at calitics: what is the role of mass transit?

Plays a significant role, supported it as senator, although don't know much about the L.A. proposal.

Do you think global warming can become a front burner issue

There is no bigger issue. This is about the survival of our planet.

He was more wordy but it went very quickly. ----------------------------