NEWS

Edwards touts environmental policy during Stonyfield stop

04/04/2007

Edwards touts environmental policy during Stonyfield stop
By Terry Date , Staff writer
Eagle-Tribune

LONDONDERRY - Presidential candidate John Edwards used a campaign stop at eco-friendly Stonyfield Farm yesterday to highlight his plans for battling global warming.

On his third visit to the Granite State this year, the North Carolina Democrat said he wants to lead America on a righteous path, re-establishing it as a force for good in the world. He would do so in part by cutting emissions in a country where 4 percent of the world's population is responsible for 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

The country could create 1 million to 2 million "green collar" jobs in renewable energy fields such as wind and solar power, using clean coal in the interim as America does its part to battle global warming, he said.

The prospect of a 3-degree to 5-degree temperature increase in the world would set off the frightening prospect of millions of people migrating, said the candidate, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, and their two young children, who are on spring break from school in North Carolina.

During a tour of the Londonderry yogurt plant, Edwards, dressed in a sport coat and jeans, walked through the warehouse and along the assembly line as yogurt cups zipped by on the conveyor.

At the end of his tour, quality control worker Mairin LaCoste, 25, unexpectedly presented a $100 personal check to Elizabeth Edwards for her husband's campaign. LaCoste said an Edwards presidency would be good for working people.

"I've worked in a lot of jobs for which a campaign like this would have given me a lot of hope," she said.

Edwards said a widening gap between the haves and have nots in America is cause for alarm, with the top 300,000 income earners in the country making more money than that made by the 150 million Americans at the bottom of the economic ladder.

"We also need to re-establish America as a force for good, not a force for bad," said Edwards, citing the 37 million people in poverty in this country.

Edwards would give the poor a leg up by boosting the minimum wage, providing government match incentives for poor people to save money and giving all an opportunity to attend college.

He also outlined a universal health care program that would subsidize health care costs for low- and middle-income wage earners.

Stonyfield President Gary Hirshberg said the topic of health care is at the forefront of both his and Edwards' families. Edwards' wife recently announced a recurrence of breast cancer, and Hirshberg's wife, Meg, is a breast cancer survivor.

"It shines an even brighter light on healthy eating," Hirshberg said.

In response to a question about appropriate health care for veterans returning from Iraq, Edwards said, "I think it is an abomination the way veterans are treated with health care."

He said the poor conditions recently reported at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are a symptom of a broken system that needs a dedicated revenue stream to properly care for veterans.

On the topic of Iraq, Edwards said he wants American soldiers out of the country, with an immediate withdrawal of 40,000 to 50,000 troops and redeployment of the others within a year.

He would redeploy American troops in the region and call on Middle Eastern countries to keep the peace in Iraq.

Edwards urged Congress to remain steadfast in its support for deadlines on troop withdrawal.

"This is about war, (about) life and death," he said.