Earthday and Democrats

Yesterday, Clinton, Obama, and Edwards campaigned in Iowa (at seperate times and venues) to push their views on the environmental issue to the public. Ever since Vice President Al Gore released his movie, "The Inconvienient Truth," the issue of protecting our planet has become a primary initiative for candidates. Each candidate had plans for the country in terms of renewable energy, and alternative energy. Clinton wants to get 20% of the nation's electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2020. She has become the democratic front runner and criticized the Bush administration on the environment and the war in Iraq. Edwards wants to the 25% of the nation's electricity from a newable energy source by the year 2025. Obama said he has offered specific proposals on the environment, ranging from toughening fuel efficiency standards to cutting back on carbon emissions.
Earth day was a great opportunity for the candidates to focus on one issue and make it stick to the public. The state of our environment has become such a hot issue that it can make anyone look good if they say the right things. "Lower carbon emission, renewable energy, recycle, the future." That's everything needed to catch the attention to the public. But if you throw in a few numbers (which are exaggerated) and throw out some ideas which "could" work, people will love you. However, realistically, these plans for 2020 and 2025, are unrealistic. The country and the planet has been dumped on so much that we need a 50, and even 100 year plan. We can't undo the damage caused by humans, but we can slow down the process by some life changing alternatives. The polar ice caps are melting, we can't stop it, but there's a way to slow it down. We can't patch up the O-zone layer, but we can prevent it from getting worse. These are the realities the candidates need to show to the public. Fancy numbers and unrealistic time tables won't impress us.