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As 2020 Approaches, Bloomberg’s Climate Pragmatism May Turn Off Voters

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Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been teasing everyone with his potential decision to run for president in 2020, and he recently said he would announce the decision by the end of the month. While he continues working through his decision process, the Democratic party and activists have already been hard at work putting together a package of environmental policies that could reshape America into an innovative leader in a new green economy and infrastructure. If Bloomberg decides at the end of the month that he will throw his hat in the ring, then he’ll need to get caught up to speed with Democratic environmental proposals and make sure he doesn’t get left in the dust as too moderate.

Even though the mayor himself has devoted a considerable portion of his life and efforts to environmental causes like trying to combat climate change, the policies he seems to still believe in don’t carry the ambition that’s currently being seen within the Democratic party right now and by other Democratic candidates. Vos Iz Neais News reports that in fact, basically every Democrat who formally announced intentions to run for president in 2020 pledged to support the “Green New Deal” without hesitation.

Bloomberg hasn’t been as forward-facing as the candidates who already announced but has shown hesitation to support some of the measures in the nonbinding deal.

“I’m focused on what are we going to do tomorrow,” the former mayor said to the Associated Press. “I’m not a legislator. I’m an executive. That means doing things and not just talking about them,” Bloomberg added.

He talked about the difficulties that a problem like climate change poses because the outlook and impacts span over the course of decades. “You’re not going to find out whether that’s achievable for decades,” he said. “If you say you’re going to do something, I want to know when, and how, and who’s going to pay for it.” He doesn’t think that there’s any real chance of reaching through to lawmakers without those answers.

Bloomberg makes his decision at his own risk, seeing that the Democratic party as a whole is moving in the direction of taking the most serious action necessary to try curbing the worst effects that climate change could bring by 2050 and 2100. Small islands, like the Marshall Islands near Micronesia, are already going underwater, and Alaska continues losing ice, to the point where polar bears are winding up in areas they normally wouldn’t be, like villages. Despite decades of science and warnings, the world did not take serious action to address climate change. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its most dire report to date, with the major finding being that the world has about 12 years to change course and limit the worst effects of climate change.

By 2050, the Meadowlands in New Jersey ideally would need to be turned into a national park in order to serve as a buffer. Newark would have killer heat waves. Trenton would flood frequently from the Delaware River. Anyone looking to enjoy a sunny walk on the Seaside Heights boardwalk would have to deal with regular flooding throughout town. Storms like Hurricane Sandy will become more common and more severe. A number of species are likely to become extinct too, if some already haven’t died out because of the rapidly changing and volatile environments around them.

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