Can the Dems use global warming

[srubick]

as an issue? I just watched some of the presentation that was made today to justify the republican forest management program. It passed by the way.
I felt more like it justified a case for global warming as slide after slide showed dieing woodlands. Our forests are burning at an alarming rate because so many trees are dead from drought and/or beetle infestations.
Does anyone even suspect this may be a symptom of global warming?
The republicans see this as a good reason to increase harvesting, and they may be right. Dems need to approach the issue from an environmental angle and lead the discussion.

[La_Serpiente]

1. Tell the people in Florida

that if they don't start supporting environmental regulations, they will be in the water 35 to forty years from now.

[pruner]

2. many Floridians will be (6 feet) underground in 35-40 years

n/t

[w4rma]

3. It's an extremely important issue that the Gas & Oil Party refuse to fix

They only tout the Gas & Oil big buisness talking points and their bribed "scientists".

Democrats *have* to promote this issue. Folks need to be made aware of what is coming down the pike. We have to use this issue because we'll *have* to pass legislation that begins working on this issue. We can't pass that legisltation if too many people think that global warming is a hoax.

[ijk]

4. "Can the Dems use global warming"

I saw a Dean statement this morning, which I can't find now for the life of me of course, that I thought was a very smart tactic. He's apparently been talking to the Apollo Alliance people, who advocate a crash technology and infrastructure program in clean(er) energy. He was saying that global warming was not only an environmental issue, though that was of course important, but also an economic and foreign policy one, and energy independence was a huge opportunity to create American jobs, and so on.

I think this is a terrific way to put it, because defusing the usual environment-versus-economy debate is critical for a presidential candidate. Dems have been very shy about campaigning on the environment for a long time, for a lot of different reasons; I think some of those reasons are excessively accepted wisdom these days, since the last time anyone really tried environmentalism in a national campaign was many years ago. (Besides the Greens, of course.) It could be a winner nowadays.

(as a responsible scientist, I have to note that it's not necessarily the case that our drought woes in the southwest are due to climate change, although they may be; and that 'harvesting' is the exact opposite of a solution to the problem.)

[srubick]

5. harvesting solution

Harvesting of the dead trees may open up the forests and return many of the woodlands back to the open savana's that where present before the great explotation.