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'Fighting for the survival of planet Earth': Democrats tackle climate crisis in town hall – as it happened

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Democratic 2020 contenders gather for special event focused on climate change

 Updated 
in San Francisco (now) and in Washington (earlier)
Thu 5 Sep 2019 00.13 EDTFirst published on Wed 4 Sep 2019 10.30 EDT
Bernie Sanders is among the Democratic presidential challengers to speak at the climate town hall on CNN.
Bernie Sanders is among the Democratic presidential challengers to speak at the climate town hall on CNN. Photograph: Mary Schwalm/AP
Bernie Sanders is among the Democratic presidential challengers to speak at the climate town hall on CNN. Photograph: Mary Schwalm/AP

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Summary

Thanks, everyone, for tuning in to our live coverage of the 2020 presidential candidate town hall on climate change. The Guardian’s Emily Holden will have a story coming shortly analyzing the major candidate’s performance and summarizing their views and policies.

In other US politics news:

  • The Carolinas are bracing for intense flooding as Hurricane Dorian slowly makes its way up the east coast.
  • A watchdog report confirmed widely held suspicions that migrant children who were separated from their parents as part of Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy faced severe psychological repercussions.
  • Trump is facing questions over whether he used a Sharpie to alter a map of Dorian’s projected path to include Alabama after the president falsely claimed the state would be “hit (much) harder than anticipated” in a Sunday tweet.
  • House speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement asserting that “Trump properties are a cesspool of corruption” and accusing the president of profiting off the presidency.
Emily Holden
Emily Holden

Aaaaaand, that’s a wrap!

Some memorable moments:

  • Joe Biden, confronted about his plans to attend a fundraiser hosted by the founder of a natural gas company, argued the host is “not a fossil fuel executive.”
  • Bernie Sanders, asked about his tweet calling Trump an idiot, said his wife disapproved but defended his words. He said Trump’s stance is “idiotic” and “dangerous”.
  • Asked if he would reinstate light bulb standards Trump is scrapping, Sanders responded with: “DUUUHHHH”.
  • Elizabeth Warren, who was also asked about whether the government should decide what light bulbs people use, exclaimed, “Oh come on, give me a break!” She said industries are more responsible for climate change than individuals and that systemic change is needed.
  • Kamala Harris, asked about reducing meat consumption, professed her love: To be perfectly honest with you, I love cheeseburgers from time to time. I do.
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In contrast to fellow senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker supported the use of nuclear power.

But he said, “absolutely, yes”, he would ban offshore drilling. “When they drill, they spill.”

He also said he’d ban fracking on public lands, and, goaded on by a viewer shouting, “Do it, do it!” Booker said he’d phase out the export of fossil fuels.

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Here are all the 2020 democratic candidates who’ve participated in the town hall, once again:

  • New Jersey senator Cory Booker
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden
  • South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
  • Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar
  • Former Texas representative Beto O’Rourke
  • Vermont senator Bernie Sanders
  • Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren
  • Businessman Andrew Yang
  • California senator Kamala Harris
  • Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro

And Cory Booker is the 10th, and final, candidate to take the CNN town halls stage tonight!

It’s all about “resiliency, resiliency, resiliency,” he said.

Of course, Booker, who is vegan was asked about burgers.

“Oh my gosh,” he said. “I hear about this all the time -- ‘Booker wants to take away your hamburger.’”

He transitioned to talking about industrial farms, and practices that harm animals and people. He pointed to the example of farms that spray hog refuse over fields as fertilizer. “I watched how the stuff fell on the fields and then misted into the black communities” that live nearby, he said. “Let’s talk about healthy food systems and the toxins that are in our community... we need to especially be looking at communities that are low income and vulnerable”

Like many of the candidates before him, O’Rourke was asked about meat consumption.

Which means the debate questions can, more or less, be summed up as such:

Lightbulbs, cheeseburgers and straws.

— Emily Holden (@emilyhholden) September 5, 2019

Oh my!

It’s Beto O’Rourke’s time to shine.

Asked about the hurricane in Puerto Rico, and the Trump administration’s response, he said: “It makes me angry... Fellow Americans were left in harm’s way.”

He criticized Trump’s attempts to redirect money from FEMA to building a border wall. His plan would be to fund disaster mitigation grants, and “make sure that the people of Puerto Rico can determine their future”, he said. “Whether that’s independence, whether they want to remain a territory, or whether that is statehood.”

He also addressed the issue retreat and rebuilding in areas — including in his state, Texas — that are prone to flooding. Americans should “rebuild where we can”, and “move where we must”, with government support, he said.

O’Rourke also said he supports taking in more climate refugees from the Bahamas, Guatemala and elsewhere. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

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Bernie Sanders’ response to a question about curbing population growth has raised eyebrows.

On that population control question:

Emission growth has far more to do with the consumption behavior of the rich than the procreation behaviour of the poor.

70% of emissions come from the richest 20% ppl in the world.

Let's get our own house in order.#ClimateTownHall

— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) September 5, 2019

Sanders was asked if he would be “courageous enough to discuss curbing population growth” as a feature of his climate plan.

He responded “Yes”, before quickly pivoting to women’s rights and access to birth control. “Especially in poor countries around the world where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies”, he said, he supports access to family planning services.

But Sanders stopped short of discouraging people to have babies if they want children.

Buttigieg also addressed the issue of his own air travel and use of private planes.

“I took the subway today,” he said. “Sometimes I fly, because this is a very big country and I’m running to be president of the whole country.”

Air travel will always be necessary, he noted, but a solution might be to improve train systems. “I’m not even asking for Japanese level trains. I’m happy with Italian level trains,” he said, drawing a chuckle from the audience.

And Pete Buttigieg has taken the stage. He said that tackling climate change “is the hardest thing we will have done in my life time as a country... on par with winning World War II.”

“We have to unify the country,” around the issue, he said. “This is going to require action at every level of government and beyond government.”

Fielding a question about environmental injustice, he brought up his Douglass plan for dealing with systemic racism.

And asked what question he might pose to Donald Trump about climate change, Buttigieg initially responded, “Wow.”

Trump is “completely in a different reality,” Buttigieg said, coming out strongly against climate change denial.

But he added that to convince conservatives and Republicans to get on board, he’d use faith to frame the issue.

“If you believe that God is watching as poison is being belched into the air,” he said. “What do you think God thinks of that. I bet he thinks, that’s messed up.”

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Back to the lightbulb question.

“Do you think the government should be in the business of telling you what kind of lightbulb you can have,” asked CNN’s Chris Cuomo, noting that the less-efficient “candle-shaped” bulbs are a popular favorite.

Warren’s response: “Oh come on, give me a break!”

“There are a lot of ways that we try to change our energy consumption and our pollution,” she said. “Some of it is with lightbulbs, some of it is on straws, some of it -- dang -- is on cheeseburgers.”

She pointed out that individual decisions to forgo incandescent lightbulbs or straws have a limited impact because industries, not individuals, are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global heating.

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Emily Holden
Emily Holden

Elizabeth Warren — asked what she would say if Trump called the Green New Deal a “dream” — quipped that what the president is doing now “is a nightmare.”

In a high-energy interview, she questioned how the crisis has escalated for this long despite repeated warning from scientists, blaming government corruption.

“We have a Washington that works great for the wealthy and well connected,” she said. “A Washington that is working great for giant oil companies who want to drill everywhere.”

Washington is not working, however, for Americans, she said.

Emily Holden
Emily Holden

Sanders reiterated climate change would be one of his first priorities. “I don’t know how any sane person cannot put it at the very top of the list,” he said. “We are fighting for the survival of planet earth.”

He slammed Donald Trump, calling it “idiotic” and “dangerous” for Trump to deny climate change and refuse to act. He said his recent tweets called Trump an idiot were “maybe harsh,” but said, “he’s called me worse.”

Hitting the third rail of climate policy, Sanders said he would make population growth —and a woman’s access to birth control — a key part of his climate plan.

He also wants to spend tens of billions of dollars helping workers in the transition away from fossil fuels. He would guarantee them an income for five years, as well as job training.

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Oliver Milman
Oliver Milman

In a rather muscular opening salvo, Bernie Sanders has raised the specter of an uninhabitable planet if the US doesn’t move rapidly to address the climate crisis.

“The damage to the world will be irreparable,” the Vermont senator said, adding that he was proposing “the largest, most comprehensive climate plan presented by any presidential candidate in the history of the United States.”

Preempting questions on how he would pay for his $16 trillion climate plan, Sanders said he’d scrap tax breaks for fossil fuel companies and slash military spending. “Am I going to guarantee Jeff Bezos will pay no more in taxes?” he asked rhetorically. “No, I won’t.” Sanders said his plan, to radically ramp up renewable energy, would create 20 million jobs over a 15-year period.

“We are dealing with an existential threat to this planet, we must respond aggressively,” he said.

Bernie Sanders is now in the hot seat. When asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper whether he’d reinstate the energy-saving lightbulb requirements that the Trump administration is rolling back, Sanders responded, “Duuuuhhhh.”

I wish more candidates would just yell DUUUUHHHH to questions.

— Emily Holden (@emilyhholden) September 5, 2019

Joe Biden said he’ll reconsider his fundraiser scheduled for tomorrow after being confronted with its host’s ties to the fossil fuel industry during the CNN town hall.

Andrew Goldman is a co-founder of a natural gas company and has worked as an adviser for Biden in the past.

“I didn’t realize he does that,” Biden said during the town hall. “I’m going to look at what you just told me and find out if that’s accurate.”

What @andersoncooper just said about VP Biden's fundraiser is factually incorrect. Andrew Goldman isn't a fossil fuel executive. He's not involved in the day to day operation. He's not on the board of the company, nor the board of the portfolio company.

— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) September 5, 2019

Biden senior advisor Symone Sanders disputed Goldman’s characterization as a fossil fuel executive, tweeting: “Andrew Goldman isn’t a fossil fuel executive. He’s not involved in the day to day operation. He’s not on the board of the company, nor the board of the portfolio company.”

Democratic representative Susan Davis of California says she won't seek reelection

I've been so honored to represent the 53rd CD for what soon will be 20 years. I'm immensely grateful to you for the repeated confidence you have shown in me. I have struggled to make this very difficult decision. I will not seek another term in Congress.https://t.co/3XLVQFQc4k

— Rep. Susan Davis (@RepSusanDavis) September 4, 2019

Susan Davis will be stepping down from Congress after nearly two decades. Davis is the fourth democratic member of congress who has decided to either resign or run for a different office, joining 15 republican members who are leaving.

In a letter to constituents, she wrote: “My decision today represents a desire to live and work “at home” in San Diego. I will continue to give my all for the next sixteen months and will work as earnestly and as enthusiastically as I have always tried to do.”

Davis’ departure is unlikely to affect the balance of congress, even as the party scrambles to find a candidate to fill her seat. Her district leans heavily democratic.

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