A Not-So-Green Election

President Obama and Mitt Romney met for their last debate Monday night and noticeably made no mention of environmental change.

Despite the fact that the debate was supposed to cover foreign policy, the two candidates managed to cover a variety of topics including the war in Afghanistan, the performance in Massachusetts elementary schools, and bayonets being obsolete (fun fact, they're actually still used!) There was, however, no mention of the environment or how either candidate would go about any future green initiatives. This marked the first time in 24 years that the environment was not brought up in any of the presidential or vice presidential debates.

Both Candy Crowley, the second debate's moderator, and Bob Schieffer claimed they had intended to ask the nominees about the environment and climate change, but that in both debates the questions were left on the "cutting room floor."

This seemed unsurprising in what has been an altogether non-green election. Neither candidate has spent a significant amount of time discussing green initiatives or ways in which Americans can combat climate change and work towards a cleaner environment.

According to Climate Silence, which uses the hashtag #climatesilence to describe the 2012 debates, climate change was largely a topic discussed by the VP candidates until the Bush/Gore debates of 2000.

In the last presidential election of 2008, climate change was discussed extensively in all three presidential debates as well as the vice presidential debate. Obama said in the second debate of 2008 that climate change was "one of the biggest challenges of our time." He also went on to say on the subject of creating alternative energy that, "it's important for us to understand that it requires a sustained effort from the next president."

Because this was such a debated and heated topic in the last election, for it to be completely eliminated from discussion this time around was noticeable to many. There were a number of mentions of energy, but it was not enough to keep environmentalists satisfied. 

Image courtesy of climatesilence.org

As we move into the election, many voters are still unsure which candidate would do more to encourage green living and better combat global warming.

Do you think this is an important issue that should have been discussed? Or are you glad the focus was kept primarily on war, foreign policy, the economy, and the job market?