The trees get no vote!

The two candidates I have chosen are Barak Obama and Mitt Romney.

Obama: "Well, I don't believe that climate change is just an issue that's convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it's one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation."

Romney: "The United States must become energy independent. This does not mean no longer importing or using oil. It means making sure that our nation's future will always be in our hands."

These two candidates have different beliefs about the environment. The troubling thing to grasp is that its each candidate offers different solutions to seperate problems. While one, Obama, seeks to better our environment and reduce our ecological impact for the future welfare of Earths citizens; Romney wants to better the environment also but because it is for economic and security purposes so you only have to get to a certain level in order to attain that feeling of stabililty. Now to categorize the candidates. I don't think one term can correctly qualify for each candidate so the following is a spectrum on which I believe the candidates fall.

Market Liberal----Romney---------Institutionalist--Obama--------------------Bioenvironmentalist

I think these categories help to understand what actions the candidates may take, if elected to office and the reasons why. Knowing why the candidates will take certain action builds trust and faith in them. Do I personally think that Romney will put the environment at the forefront of his presidency no. I think he will work on legislation to help lead us away from energy dependence, however, the dedication and conviction does not seem to be as strong as Obama's.

Obama realizes the impact the US is having and wants to reduce carbon emissions, reduce energy dependence, and promote a cleaner future. These do seem to be the most in line with my beliefs, however, it could just lead to the exportation of ecological degradation to developing nations. Romney on the other hand in one of the Republican debates says that its not just an American Problem but a global problem in which we need make a global change. He does make a strong point here, however, we could be the leaders to become a world hegemon with strong environmental policies that we can export to other countries rather then just our waste and envionmental damage. Maybe if we get Gore back in as Vice-President we can really change our environmental policy and social stance towards global warming.