simple + green

Republican Presidential nominee-to-be, Senator John McCain,

is calling for an emissions limit to fight global warming.

Well, it’s an election year, after all.

Sen. John McCain sought to distance himself from President Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to combat climate change.

McCain, in a speech at a wind power company, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world’s biggest polluters, if the nations refuse to participate in an international agreement to slow global warming.

McCain has some pretty nutty ideas, and ticking off China is certainly one of them.

Part of me wants to be fair, and applaud his stance. But the man has a pretty weak record when it comes to his environmentally-focused Senate votes.

And this speech, while possibly sincere, may just be campaign rhetoric:

In speeches on the campaign trail, McCain frequently highlights the threat of climate change in speeches, but he has a mixed record on the environment in the Senate. In recent years, he has pushed legislation to curb emissions that contribute to climate change, but he has missed votes on increasing fuel economy standards and has opposed tax breaks meant to encourage alternative energy.

In his speech Monday, the presumptive Republican president nominee renewed his support for a cap-and-trade system in which power plants and other polluters could meet limits on greenhouse gases by either reducing emissions on their own or buying credits from more efficient producers.

So now McCain joins Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in taking swifter action against global warming. Which is much better than the current administration can claim.

May the most Green (and sane) candidate win!