During last night’s debate the rare occurrence of a question on Climate Change was posed but the responses were cut short, in an inexcusable way. NBC only permitted two of the candidates to answer, Hillary Clinton’s response was abruptly stopped before she could even begin so that the slew of commercials during the Halftime NBC created for advertisers could commence at length.
The 4th Democratic debate transcript
HOLT: We have got a lot to ground to cover here.
Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel.
Here's their take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Hello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit.
But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year.
Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources.
Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas.
In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLT: Senator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted.
How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior?
SANDERS: I think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively.
I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on.
I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse.
It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists.
(APPLAUSE)
It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.
(LAUGHTER)
Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen.
(APPLAUSE)
HOLT: Governor O'Malley, 30 seconds.
O'MALLEY: Thank you.
Lester, on this stage tonight, this Democratic stage, where we actually believe in science.
(LAUGHTER)
I would like to challenge and invite my colleagues here on this stage to join me in putting forward a plan to move us to a 100 percent clean, electric energy grid by 2050. It can be done.
(APPLAUSE)
With solar, with wind, with new technologies, with green buildings, this can happen, but in all -- President Obama made us more energy independent, but in all of the above strategy didn't land us on the moon, we need American ingenuity and we need to reach by 2050 for the sake of our kids.
HOLT: That's time. We're going to take a break.
CLINTON: And let me...
HOLT: When we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of ISIS now more real than ever on U.S. soil. Americans in fear and hearing few good answers.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
If the question on Climate Change was worth asking then common sense dictates all of the the leading candidates should have had an opportunity to answer it. Why wasn’t Hillary allowed to respond after NBC’s Halftime break? Were Iran or ISIS so much more urgent? This devalued the whole issue of Climate Change making it subordinate to some flashpoints de jour that are more interesting to these network talking heads.