Looking at Joe Biden's record on the environment

It's hard to avoid politics in a presidential election year. While I try to avoid being preachy about environmental issues, it would be criminal to understate the importance that the next administration's policies will have for us all. The U.S. has the ability to take a leadership role on global environmental issues, but it's going to take a lot of courage and innovation.

I don't think it would take you particularly long to detect my personal political leanings by reading through my blog. In fact, reading the blog itself might not be necessary with a title like The Going Green Project.

Personal opinions aside, however, it is crucial that we know where our candidates stand on environmental issues. What is their energy plan? What is their record on environmental issues? If everyone has the right to vote, then we all have a duty to honor that right by being informed voters. Whether or not you know from whom your ballot will be cast in November, it's worth your time to learn more about how our next administration might act. I strongly believe that there are small actions everyone can take in their daily lives that affect the world we live in. This coming election, however, may represent an opportunity to take a very large action, but that can only happen if we are informed.

With the announcement of Senator Joe Biden as Barack Obama's running mate, along with the kick-off of the Democratic National Convention, I'd like to begin by posting a review of Biden's environmental record. Biden has a respectable (for a politician anyway) 83% lifetime score from the League of Conservation voters for his voting record in the Senate.

For more in-depth reading, I would also recommend this interview with Biden, conducted when he was still a candidate for the Democratic nomination. If you know anything about Biden, then you know he's built his reputation on foreign policy issues. He blends this focus on global politics with his concern for energy and environmental issues, and comes up with term "energy security." Biden believes that the most critical foreign policy decisions of the future will come from the problems and obstacles created by global warming. At the very least, the interview is telling insight into the views of a man who, in just over two months, could be a heartbeat from the Presidency.

Finally, while I will devote more time to the candidate's positions on environmental issues in the coming weeks, I have posted a link on the left that you can use to start your investigation.