McCain and Obama Don't Offset Campaign Costs

A Washington Times article reports today that neither McCain or Obama are doing what they should to offset the carbon emissions from their campaigns.

According to the article, "Campaign finance records for 2007 show that neither of the two leading presidential candidates has spent money to independently cover his campaign's 'carbon footprint' — the amount of carbon emissions emitted by the planes and vehicles the candidates and their staffs use for travel, or by the computers and headquarters needed to run a presidential campaign."

Carbon offsets are a great way to fund tree replantings and clean energy development that guarantees us all a healthier environmental future. Many of the other presidential campaigns, including that of Edwards, Clinton, and Dodd paid to offset their carbon footprint. Hillary Clinton spend tens of thousands of dollars last year to make sure her campaign was environmentally responsible.

There is a genuine, and well founded, fear among the environmental community that the 2008 election will yield yet another candidate who pays lip service to the environmental challenges that we face. This election should be about making the United States a global leader in clean energy development. Although both McCain and Obama have impressive environmental credentials, its important that they stay on the cutting edge of environmental stewardship so they act as leaders to the US and worldwide.

I implore you to contact the Obama and McCain campaigns and tell them to put words into action and make their campaigns carbon neutral. Excuses and rhetoric won't slow down the global calamity that is global climate change.

Obama's Campaign: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2
McCain's Campaign: http://www.johnmccain.com/Contact/

Washington Times Story: HERE