Environment Invisible at GOP Convention
Attendees at the Republican National Convention, which wrapped up last night, would have been hard-pressed to discern the party’s positions on environmental issues. Other than a video touting the Bush administration’s efforts to avert wildfires in national forests (by, um, logging), green themes were markedly absent from the gathering. “I have not heard that word — environment — emitted from the podium,” said Sierra Club President Larry Fahn. Bush-Cheney campaign policy director Tim Adams said the environment “remains an important policy area for us,” but many GOP delegates didn’t seem to mind silence on the topic. “My personal opinion is the most important thing is terrorism, and everything else takes a back seat,” said Arizona delegate Dot Greener. “If we don’t keep the country safe, we won’t have anything to worry about. We aren’t going to have a country.” But out on the streets of New York this week, some city residents have been arguing that 9/11 had serious environmental ramifications, and the Bush administration did little to protect Americans from those dangers, reports David Epstein in a Dispatch for Grist.
