“We know that climate change is occurring, right? Everyone knows that. We know it’s dramatic. We know that mankind is the likely…the vast majority of it is a result of our actions. So we need to address it and move quickly. I think when you start trying to break down which part of the climate disruption is the consequence of which pollution images, or who’s responsible, that’s when we get into trouble. I would certainly dramatically agree that we need billions of dollars…”

So said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper in December, appearing on the show Democracy Now! during the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen [at 7:40 of the video above. Full transcript at this link.]

Unfortunately, Hickenlooper was cut off mid-sentence by host Amy Goodman, who wanted to hear from Damon Moglen, the global warming campaign director for Greenpeace USA, about its “demands” at the conference. [Moglen had said earlier (4:46) that, "The expectation is that the U.S. will put somewhere in between half a billion and maybe a couple of billion dollars. This is pennies on the dollar of what’s needed, absolutely pennies on the dollar of what’s really needed."]

So Hickenlooper, now running for governor of Colorado, gets another chance. And we trust that he will answer these questions completely on the campaign trail: WHERE do we need billions of dollars? WHO should pay? And WHAT role should Colorado play?

We’re all ears.

[Updated 2/13/10]
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Hickenlooper on climate politics: the slavery analogy

Let’s start here…

In December, a month before Hickenlooper entered the Colorado governor’s race, he attended the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Stateside, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made a splash with an “endangerment finding” that carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

The Wall Street Journal’s opinion: “With cap and trade blown apart in the Senate, the White House has chosen to impose taxes and regulation across the entire economy under clean-air laws that were written decades ago and were never meant to apply to carbon.”

In Copenhagen, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman asked Hickenlooper what he thought about the EPA’s action. [Full transcript at this link.]

“I think the EPA stepping in – clearly CO2 and methane, these six gases, are pollutants, there can’t be any question,” he said. “So there shouldn’t be a lot of discussion about whether the EPA has the jurisdiction or the authority. I think the devil will be in the details.”

So far, so bad. Hickenlooper went on to discuss whether Pres. Obama can achieve political consensus on climate change.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mMPnei6AFk]

[The video above is queued up to 5:40.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b68Rk94jPDk

“It reminds me a little bit of slavery, of Lincoln having to deal…If you look at how moderate Lincoln was in 1856, 1858, 1859, even as he was getting elected [president], it’s an intergenerational problem that has been, you know, intensely polarizing. I think what Obama is trying to do is thread the needle and bring the country together around this issue.”

Say WHAT?

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Hickenlooper on climate spending; billions for what?

Look here Hickenscooter . . . I am not going to take advice from you as to what’s fashionable. You are a lot of things, but “hip” is not one of them.

The proposed 119-mile rail line project in metro Denver (which the mayor helped sell to voters in 2004) looks more like the NEW RED, as in TAXPAYER BAILOUT that may require $2.5 billion more to complete.

Stay until the end of the video to get an added bonus: Hickenlooper on the urgency of climate change.

(How’s this message for Hickenlooper as he runs for governor of Colorado: Vote for me. I’ll increase your taxes for mass transit. And fight climate change!)

“There’s always a group on the periphery of any issue, especially an issue that’s got serious amounts of money tied to the solution, that are going to wave their arms and say, ‘It’s a hoax. It’s phony.’ But the vast majority of people in Denver recognize that climate change is a real problem.

“It’s going to be something that’s going to get worse and worse until we face up and address it. And I think that recognition grows a little bit every week, every month. There’s more people that say, ‘You know. This is a big deal. This is a big deal.’ All the naysayers and skeptics, they get some attention, but I don’t think they’re persuading people, in their heart of hearts; they know, all right, we’ve been listening to them for a while. It’s about time we started getting to work on this.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaFnyRx3pIc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaFnyRx3pIc