The environmental platforms of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are more alike than they are different, their respective environmental advisers said Friday afternoon when they spoke in Love Auditorium.
The May 6 Democratic presidential primaries in North Carolina have brought a flood of campaign efforts to the Triangle area.
Friday's discussion, hosted by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, was sandwiched between Chelsea Clinton's visit to Duke last Tuesday and Obama's planned visit to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tonight.
Dan Utech and Jason Grumet, environmental advisors to Clinton and Obama, respectively, spoke to a large crowd of mostly Nicholas School graduate students who gathered to hear the campaign members discuss key election issues including global warming, alternative fuels and marine conservation.
Both speakers addressed the need for alternative energy sources, including corn-based fuels, cleaner-burning coal and farm waste.
They added that the energy problems facing the United States are also issues for the world at large. Keeping jobs in the U.S. and working with other countries in a respectable manner to improve environmental standards is crucial, they said.
"We have to work with them and not suggest that low-carbon living comes at the cost of healthcare, education, etc.," Grumet said.
The speakers also focused on the availability of water, which is important to North Carolina in light of the recent drought.
"There are two issues: supply and quality," Utech said when listing the environmental damages done by the Bush administration. "There's a lot of work to do to reverse the damage that's been done."
When it comes to global changes, Grumet insisted that action is necessary.
"We need a president who's going to shake the Etch a Sketch pretty hard," he said.
Utech outlined Clinton's record of accomplishment in the Senate and her membership in the Committee on Environment and Public Works. He also encouraged interested students to come to Washington, D.C., to help tackle environmental issues, such as the ones the candidates hope to address if elected.
"We do face enormous challenges, but I'm very optimistic about what the future holds," Utech said.
Grumet said Obama plans to control greenhouse gas emissions by allowing people and companies to buy the resources that they specifically needed in order to reduce wasted energy resources.
He stressed that environmental conservation is a specific challenge for the upcoming generation and that although the government needs to increase its efforts, the challenge is ultimately up to individuals.
"This is a different scope and scale than anything we've ever come up against," he said. "I think there's a real yearning in this country to be involved."
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