I mentioned Obama's energy plan earlier this week, specifically commending him for calling for 100 percent auction of carbon permits. Turns out Edwards has called for this sort of policy as well. This is a good idea, because it ensures that the big carbon-emitters aren't given handouts. It also puts the onus on Clinton to support the same when she comes out with her big energy plan in a few weeks. She's behind the curve on this one if she doesn't.
Speaking of prominent Democrats with solid energy plans, as everyone knows by now, Al Gore was named the winner of this year's Noble Peace Prize this morning, and he'll be sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Most of the media has fixated on whether or not this will push him into the presidential race, rather than providing substantive coverage of the why they won, and what that means for addressing the issue. Gore's calling for a "Global Marshall Plan" that takes on both poverty and global warming, and the IPCC is expected to come out with their policy recommendations within weeks. They've led the world toward consensus on the realities and dangers of climate change, and now they're leading the way toward solutions. Rather than spilling ink on "Will the prize spur him to run?", the far more important question is, "What are we going to do about climate change?"
--Kate Sheppard
