Everything You Need To Know About The 7-Hour Climate Crisis Town Hall

On Wednesday, September 4, ten Democratic presidential candidates participated in a 7-hour long marathon of consecutive town hall-style interviews on the climate crisis, taking questions from CNN anchors and audience members.


Yep: Seven. Whole. Hours. That’s a really long quantity of time to listen to… well, just about anyone on any topic, let alone one of the most crucial crises of our time. The climate crisis is becoming more indisputable daily, leading to deadly droughts and floods, food shortages around the world, and powerful storms like Hurricane Dorian, which has already left 20 people dead in the Bahamas and knocked out power for more than 200,000 people in the Carolinas, according to the New York Times. And voters are taking notice: According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 56 percent of registered voters mentioned the climate crisis is an emergency, and that number jumps to 74 percent any time once you look specifically at 18- to 34-year-old voters.


While this town hall was desperately needed, it was still a far cry from what activists really want: an official Democratic primary debate really interested in the climate crisis. And an argument would be made that we still need one: Right considering that, it’s tough to measure a candidates’ positions against another’s whenever they aren’t on stage with each other, holding each other accountable. However the Democratic National Committee declined to hold a debate, so here we are, glued to TV screens for seven hours. Here are a few of the key takeaways from each candidate throughout their time on stage:


Former Vice President Biden still plans to attend a fundraiser hosted by a fossil fuel executive.


The Democratic front runner — who stands a whopping ten points ahead of his rivals, according to some polls — seemed ill-prepared for several of the well-planned attacks against him, not unlike his efficiency at the debates.


Isaac Larkin, a doctoral student at Northwestern University as well as a Bernie Sanders contributor, asked Biden: “How can we trust you to hold these agencies accountable any time whenever you are holding a high-dollar fundraiser contained by Andrew Goldman, a fossil fuel executive?” According to The Intercept, which published a story about Biden attending Goldman’s fundraiser just hours before the climate town hall, Goldman and Biden have “deep ties,” since Goldman was Biden’s advisor while in his Senate days and the Northeast director of finance for Biden’s 2008 campaign.


It seemed that much of the missing data had to be filled in by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who explained that Goldman, a co-founder of Western LNG, an organic gas production firm in Texas, had no actual executive responsibilities with the organization — he was just an investor. Biden mentioned that his employees researched the Securities and Exchange Commission records to prepare ensure that he wasn’t procuring any cash from a fossil fuel executive, and if it turns out that he was wrong about Goldman, he “will not in any way accept his help.”


Andrew Yang is down to statistics further into cloud seeding and other unproven technological advancements. 


The former tech executive was asked if he might “quantify the loss in CO2 attainable from geoengineering strategies” that his plan proposes, and he either could not or simply did not while in the town hall.


“If you look at my plan, of the $5 trillion, like a fraction of one of the trillions is looking at geoengineering,” he mentioned, adding that “it isn't the primary approach.”


That question lead Wolf Blitzer to ask the entrepreneur why he’d be ready to invest time and cash into technology that had been unproven to actually curb the climate crisis any time there really are so several solutions that have been proven to work. One example of a risky bet? Cloud seeding, which is literally shooting artificial substances like dry ice into clouds to force rain. Dry ice is 100% carbon dioxide.


“We’re here with each other because we can this is a crisis,” Yang told Blitzer. “If you were attacking on one side, you have got to be researching various alternatives on the other. That, to me, is just responsible management and responsible leadership.”


Although the candidate also mentioned that he’d eliminate gross domestic product as a measure of national success and replace it with a system that includes environmental factors. "Let's upgrade it with a new scorecard that includes our environmental maintainability and our objectives he mentioned. So, it’s a mixed bag.


Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro focused on combating environmental racism.


Throughout his town hall segment, Castro prioritized his “new civil rights legislation” that would address environmental racism. "I know that also often times it’s people that are poor communities of color, who take the brunt of storms that are getting more frequent and more powerful,” he said.


Castro’s plan, according to his website, heavily focuses on two main issues: environmental justice and climate resilient communities. “This allocate disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income Americans,” his plan reads, adding that he’ll suggest new civil rights legislation to “address the disparate impact of environmental discrimination and dismantle structures of environmental racism,” reform the EPA’s Office of External Civil Rights Compliance to help victims of environmental discrimination, and let victims of environmental discrimination to sue under the correct of action for the Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964.


Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders mentioned “duh.”


At the forum, Sanders’ trickiest question was the opening, in which he was asked if he could be prepared to get rid of the filibuster — a Senate rule that requires 60 votes alternatively opposed to an eas majority of 51 to move legislation forward — to pass a climate change deal. (California Senator Kamala Harris mentioned she would.) He mentioned he wouldn’t, adding that he doesn’t want “the Senate to be the House.” If elected president, he mentioned, he would pass climate plans through a majority process. He later focused his town-hall time on his ambitious plan to combat the climate crisis that comes with a $16 trillion price tag over 10 years.


At one point, CNN moderator Anderson Cooper asked Sanders if he would reinstate energy-saving lightbulb requirements that the Trump administration overturned earlier that day.


his answer? “Duh!”


South Bend Mayor Buttigieg mentioned combating the climate crisis would be “more tough than” conquering Hitler. 


“This is the hardest thing we'll have done in my lifetime as a country,” he mentioned, adding that it is “on par with winning World War II.”


He didn’t stop there, adding: “Maybe more hard than that.”


“Does anybody really think we’re going to meet that objective if between right now and 2050, we are still at each other’s throats? It won’t happen,” he said.


That wasn’t the only powerful soundbite Buttigieg got in. If he was asked if he supports changing the nutritional points to decrease red meat, which has a monumental impact on the environment, he said: “The key thing to understand is that we can have a more balanced diet and so a more balanced footprint and not abolish the cow,” the mayor mentioned, adding: “[Abolishing the cow] is what folks are saying about the Green New Deal. Because it’s an easy Republican talking point.”


New Jersey Senator Cory Booker reminded each person that he is vegan.


The Senator mentioned his administration would pull back subsidies to the meat and dairy industry.


“We are going have to prepare ensure our government isn't subsidizing the things that make us sick and unhealthy and hurt our environment and begin to incentivize the practices that get farming, and get agriculture, and get the health of our communities back,” he said.


He also got frustrated at the idea that nearly every candidate mentioned they would rejoin the Paris climate accord — an idea he appreciates although, y’all, the bar is on the floor.


“I’m sorry,” he mentioned. “That is, like, a cost of entry even to run for president or talk about the presidency.”


Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is sick of the fossil fuel industry.


Warren, who called for a full ban on fracking, mentioned that conversations that concentrate on “lightbulbs, around your straws, and about your cheeseburgers” are exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants people focused on. She mentioned those are the kinds of conversations that distract from the real benefactors to the climate crisis, who would love nothing more than to keep polluting the planet at an astronomical rate.


Is it worth assessing your own consumption and habits to decrease your own footprint? Obviously — but individual action is nothing in comparison to industrial waste. It’s key we address both in the fight for our future.


California Senator Kamala Harris isn’t afraid to sue the people responsible.


Harris mentioned that her administration would go right after oil and gas agencies who have directly affected the climate crisis.


“They are causing harm and death in communities,” she mentioned. “And there has been no accountability.” And any time CNN anchor Erin Burnett asked if Harris could be prepared to sue ExxonMobil, the former California attorney general shot back immediately: “I have sued ExxonMobil.”


She, unlike Sanders, mentioned she could be ready to get rid of the Senate filibuster to move forward her climate plan, saying: “I will do what is necessary.”


Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar faced her moderate past and current policy in a sea of Democrats with far more progressive plans.


Klobuchar definitely appeared to understand the urgency of the climate crisis, saying: “That movie The Day Right after Tomorrow, it’s happening today.” Although her policy proposals are far less progressive and far less ambitious than her rivals — her $1 trillion plan would primarily restore and expand upon Obama-era policies.


She mentioned she supported the removal of the grey wolf from the endangered species list because there were enough of these them that they were endangered anymore. She mentioned she supports “individual efforts” like “using cold water for the clothes [which] saves five times the energy.” (It’s crucial to note that just several agencies are accountable for the vast majority of the climate crisis, so making individual changes can only accomplish so much.) Whenever it comes to fracking, she said: “I think I’m being truthful. We won’t immediately get rid of it.”


Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke wants to revive cap-and-trade for carbon emissions


O’Rourke mentioned his administration would curb carbon emissions by introducing a national cap-and-trade system, which, according to the New York Times, means that the government issues a specific assortment of permits to firms that emit carbon dioxide, essentially capping their output.


Priya Subberwal, a New York University student, asked O’Rourke to clarify why he prefers cap-and-trade over a straight tax on carbon.


“We should definitely price carbon. I think the ideal possible path to do that is through a cap and trade system” he mentioned. “It’s the perfect way to send a pricing signal.”