Jamie Weinstein @ The Daily Caller:
Though the 2012 Democratic Party platform declares that the “national security threat from climate change is real, urgent, and severe,” it is apparently not urgent and severe enough to merit mention by speakers at the Democratic National Convention during the past two days.
The Daily Caller reviewed the speech transcripts of the over 80 speakers who took the stage at the Time Warner Cable Arena here in Charlotte on Tuesday and Wednesday, and only one mentioned climate change — and even he only mentioned it in passing.
“Thanks to President Obama, America is laying the foundation for the way we power tomorrow,” said Tom Steyer, co-founder of the Advanced Energy Economy trade association, in one of the early and therefore likely least watched speeches to the convention Wednesday.
“So here’s my question for you: Should we go back to the boom-and-bust, ‘drill-baby-drill,’ polluting energy policies of yesterday, or should we embrace an advanced energy economy that meets opportunity with innovation? Should we settle for an economy built on shifting and uncertain sands, or should we keep building an economy made to last?”
“Gov. Romney’s road to the future will lead to dirty air and increasing climate volatility, uncertainty over energy prices, and less security, not more,” Steyer continued. “President Obama’s road to the future will lead us to energy independence, energy security, a safer and cleaner environment, and countless new jobs that can never be outsourced.”
That reference to “increasing climate volatility” was the only explicit reference to climate change in two days of speakers. TheDC searched every speech for the words “global warming” and “climate,” and only Steyer’s speech produced a result. Next to Steyer, the only other mention that came close was President Bill Clinton’s passing reference to reducing greenhouse gasses, though the former president didn’t explicitly tie the reduction in greenhouse gasses in his nearly hour-long speech to an effort to combat climate change.
While even a three-day long convention can’t mention every issue, climate change is an issue that the Democratic Party platform speaks of in apocalyptic terms.