Bernie Sanders and Sustainability

[Tom Wolber]

Dear SDO Members and Supporters:

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has just launched his bid for the office of President in 2016. He will run as a Democrat. Sanders, 73, was mayor of Burlington, Vt., followed by 16 years as member of the House of Representatives, and was elected to the Senate in 2006.

If sustainability is the yardstick by which to measure presidential candidates, he is the one to beat. Sanders has consistently warned against the dangers of climate change and supports all sorts of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This weekend, I checked out his environmental record, using <www.ontheissues.org> and other sources. Sanders has a 100 percent score by the Humane Society on animal-rights issues and a 90 percent score by the League of Conservation Voters. He has voted YES on protecting ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems; her has voted YES on protecting federal lands and parks against commercial logging; he has voted YES on increasing Amtrak funding and other means of mass transportation; he has voted YES on protecting endangered animal species; he has voted YES on making tax deductions permanent for conservation easements; and he has voted YES on a requirement to label genetically engineered food. There are many other examples. Ohio Wesleyan should give him an honorary degree!

I am glad Bernie Sanders is running because his presence will force Hillary Clinton to address things she'd rather not talk about, e.g., climate change, gay rights, the billionaire class, and the Trans-Pacific Trade Pact. As Gail Collins put it in the "New York Times" (5/2/15), "when it comes to consistency, Bernie Sanders is Mount Rushmore [compared] to Hillary Clinton's Sheila the Shapeshifter." It is unlikely that Sanders will win the Democratic nomination, but we should be grateful for the awareness he is raising and the seeds he is planting. Let's pay him the attention he deserves. In Europe, Bernie Sanders would be considered a Social Democrat and mainstream politician. Unfortunately, in the U.S. he is seen as an outlier and a radical. 

Tom Wolber

5/3/15

[jerrygeist]

Thanks for the information, Tom.

Jerry Geist

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