The 2004 Elections and the Candidates

The 2004 Election and the Candidates

Views on the Environment

When you walk outside and gaze upon the beauty of Mother Nature, as you take that first breath of fresh air in the morning, the deer standing in your back yard early hours in the morning. These are the things we should value the most. People in society have grown accustom to using nature in its own greedy purposes. Not showing much heart for what they are doing to the wildlife, that is trying to co-exist in this world with humans. Some people might ask who will do something to help our environment and the wildlife that can't defend for themselves. So our children will be able see the beauties that nature has to offer. People have turned to the election to get some answers to their questions concerning who is more qualified with protecting the environment.

Over the last decade environmental laws have become harsher towards pollution in the world, cutting down natural habitats for human purposes, and wildlife preservation. If we do not do something about these soon, there will be no future for this planet. The planet would become too intolerable to live on and people might one day have to leave this planet and find another place to live, if we live that long. People around the United States have turned to the presidential election that will be held in November of 2004. The two major candidates are former president George W. Bush and John Kerry.

George W. Bush has already done a little for the environment during his first term as president. Bush spent three billion dollars on damages towards the national parks across America. He promised that he would clean up 450,000 industrial sites and transform them into national parks. Bush also wants to change the clean air laws to a market based approach. Another way he wants to clean the air is through promoting the hydrogen powered fuel cell technology for future cars. (USA Today, 2). One of the bigger impacts Bush is doing for the environment is the Nation Park Legacy Project. His goal in this project is to preserve the parks for future generations. His goals in this project are as followed:

* "Eliminating the $4.9 billion maintenance backlog in our nation parks over five years".

* "Increasing funding for the Natural Resource Challenge by $20 million over the 2001 budget, which totals a $49.5 million budget request for 2002".

* "Supporting the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan with a $3.1 million increase over the 2001 budget, a total of $122.7 million for 2002".

* "Calling for full funding of $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, including a $359.7 million programmatic increase over the 2001 budget".

* "Upholding the existing policies that prohibit mining, oil and gas exploration, and drilling at national parks".

* "Restoring 8,900 acres of parklands to its natural conditions and containing exotic vegetation on 66,400 acres of targeted parkland".

* "Preparing national park stewardship plans to operate parks more efficiently and improve stewardship of each park's natural resources".

* "Reducing haze in our national parks that can obscure views through Environmental Protection Agency action"(The White House, par 3).

Even thought Bush is making an effort to make the environment better, he has also done a great deal of harm to mother nature. He terminated the Kyoto treaty which industrialized nations by reducing greenhouse gases that big industrial businesses were emitting into the air, mainly Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, and Sulfur Dioxide (BBC, par 1). This means that Bush is helping the big businesses to save money and produce more, therefore making more money by polluting the environment. Another concern people of the United States have about George Bush is that he has expanded the lumber industry. He is helping them tear down more of the natural habitats for the wildlife. This then creates another concern, which involves viruses and plagues. Tearing down the trees, which kept the viruses deep in the woods, are now able to blown away by the wind and carried to the urban areas. But Bush obviously doesn't care all that much about that. He also expanded the farmlands by 80%. This is also causing animals to loose their feeding grounds. So they then turn to the crops for food and shelter and farmers call them