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Going back to Carolina

-- John -- 07/25/2007

The beautiful town of McClellanville, S.C., played unfortunate host to Hurricane Hugo eighteen years ago, which made landfall the night of September 21, 1989, destroying homes, fishing boats, and trees.  Watching the carnage from their home in North Carolina, John and Elizabeth Edwards responded by loading up their station wagon with goods and then driving down to help the people of the Lowcountry.

So on July 24, 2007, McClellanville played welcoming host to a return visit by the Edwards pair, as they sat down with conservation leaders from around the state to discuss global warming, energy, and conservation.  Edwards, who regularly addresses climate change on the stump, outlined with plan for addressing global warming - calling for reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050, raising fuel efficiency standards to 40 mpg and increasing renewable electricity standards 25 percent by 2025.  He has also called for a moratorium on any new coal plan construction that does not use the most advanced IGCC (Internal Gasification Combined Cycle) technology.

But John and Elizabeth were as interested in hearing what South Carolina conservationists had to say about global warming and the environment as they were in outlining the campaign’s proposals.  A wide-ranging discussion ensued, covering topics like funding cuts for scientific research in nearby Francis Marion National Forest, the invasion of hog farm lagoons in central South Carolina, the health of South Carolina rivers and aquifers and rising insurance rates for coastal property owners. 

And what emerged was a strong consensus between both candidate and participants that perhaps there may be a way to inject new life into the old cliché, “Think globally, act locally.”  Global warming has become the common environmental danger threatening all conservation efforts in South Carolina.  But solving it will require working across traditional boundaries between the local and the national, the private and the public.  Proving the point, Elizabeth Edwards responded to a fisherman’s concern that low tariffs for foreign shrimp are hurting the local fishing industry by pointing out that the right kind of trade policy, coupled with incentives to encourage people to buy and sell food locally, strengthens local economies while decreasing the shrimping industry’s carbon imprint. 

Making these kinds of connections to American voters is a responsibility of all candidates; making these connections to the world will be the job of the next President.  John Edwards concluded by saying, “I don’t think America can lead if we are not in the process of cleaning up our own act.” 

John Edwards meets with members of South Carolina's conservation community in McClellanville, S.C.