EnviroHumanImpact

Recently, it was reported that there have been $1,000,000,000 (yes, that’s a billion dollars) donated to political campaigns for the U.S. Presidency this election cycle. What does that mean for the environment?

Well, we can wish that it would mean that the two main campaigns remaining — those of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama — would not spend so much of their piece of that money on polluting activities (FYI: much of the $1 Billion was donated to other candidates in the primaries).

Alas, much of that money will be spent on T.V. commercials, which while not eco-friendly, pale in comparison to the mailers sent out, the plastic and metal signs put up in yards and on street corners across the United States, and the jet and motorcade costs of the candidates’ campaign travel activities.  After all, chances are, those televisions are already being watched, but that charter bus or plane is not being flown on any one person’s behalf, except for the candidate using it.

What voters could hope for from the two candidates would be a little less talk about what he would do as President to green the country (both candidates have given major speeches regarding issues pertaining to the environment), that is, until they have outlined what it is his campaign is doing to green its activities.

Certainly, a long, grueling campaign includes much travel, paper advertisements, and signage on behalf of candidates.  But the near silence of the two campaigns pertaining to greener campaigning, including possible carbon offsets, signage and paper leaflet turn-in points at the polls (fat chance on that one!), etc. is regrettable.  What if the campaign volunteers near the polling places agreed to collect recyclable paper, bottles, cans, and other materials, especially campaign materials, to help make a statement and potentially counteract some of their campaigns’ negative envirohuman impact?  Targeting communities where recycling facilities currently do not exist would make an extra good impact.

Now is the time to set an example for how a leader would lead. Senator McCain and Senator Obama, how are you improving the envirohuman impact of your individual campaigns for the White House? The planet is dying to know!

Weigh in on this issue: what can we reasonably expect from candidates’ campaigns regarding making them more eco-friendly?

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Recently, it was reported that there have been $1,000,000,000 (yes, that’s billion) donated to political campaigns for the U.S. Presidency this election cycle. What does that mean for the environment?

Well, we can wish that it would mean that the two main campaigns remaining — those of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama — would not spend so much of their piece of that money on polluting activities (FYI: much of the $1 Billion was donated to other candidates in the primaries).

Alas, much of that money will be spent on T.V. commercials, which while not eco-friendly, pale in comparison to the mailers sent out, the plastic and metal signs put up in yards and on street corners across the United States, and the jet and motorcade costs of the candidates’ campaign activities.  After all, chances are, those televisions are already being watched, but that charter bus or plane is not being flown on any one person’s behalf, except for the candidate using it.

What voters could hope for from the two candidates would be a little less talk about what he would do as President to green the country (both candidates have given major speeches regarding issues pertaining to the environment), that is, until they have outlined what it is his campaign is doing to green its activities.

Certainly, a long, grueling campaign includes much travel, paper advertisements, and signage on behalf of candidates.  But the near silence of the two campaigns pertaining greener campaigning, including possible carbon offsets, signage and paper leaflet turn-in points at the polls (fat chance on that one!), etc. is regrettable.

Now is the time to set an example for how a leader would lead. Senator McCain and Senator Obama, how are you improving the envirohuman impact of your indidual campaigns for the White House? The planet is dying to know!

Weigh in on this issue: Should candidates have to take steps to improve the envirohuman impact of their campaigns?

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