Democratic Candidate Environmental Quote Quiz
While all of these Democratic presidential candidate front-runners have signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, that doesn’t mean their environmental policies are created equal. Try your hand at guessing who said which environmentally-themed quote, then learn more about that candidate’s policies!
STEYER
“We can’t solve the climate crisis in the U.S. by ourselves, but we have to work with our allies and our frenemies around the world.”
Tom Steyer
Steyer, a billionaire businessman who made his first debate appearance in October, has called climate change the biggest international problem we are facing. His campaign climate plan takes a “justice-centered” approach, placing people before corporations and prioritizing communities that have been treated as “environmental dumping grounds.” Among his plans are declaring climate change a national emergency, promoting the Green New Deal and creating a Civilian Climate Corps with 1 million new jobs. He has previously donated millions to federal candidates to fight climate change and also founded NextGen America (formerly NextGen Climate) to mobilize voters in fighting it. He considers clean air and water one of the top five rights that Americans should have.
You can read more about his climate plan here.
SANDERS
“Furthermore – and I hope we will discuss it at length tonight – this planet faces the greatest threat in its history from climate change. And the Green New Deal that I have advocated will create up to 20 million jobs as we move away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”
Bernie Sanders
Senator Sanders has likened his vision of a Green New Deal to President Franklin Roosevelt’s mobilization of the American workforce during World War II, quickly restructuring the economy to work toward a common goal. Besides creating up to 20 million jobs, Sanders’ Green New Deal also supports climate justice, protection of public lands and a commitment to decarbonize the economy by 2050. Notably, the plan also includes protections for current fossil fuel workers to transition them into a job in clean energy or retirement, should they choose. Sanders also supports the banning of fracking and fossil fuel leases on public land, and he supports improving the sustainability of public transport and infrastructure, especially in the communities hit hardest by climate change.
You can view his climate plan here.
CASTRO
“Trump values profits over people, individual fortunes over our collective future, and he is the most anti-animal president in our history.”
Julián Castro
Castro is the only candidate thus far to introduce an animal welfare plan. His Protecting Animals and Wildlife (PAW) plan would strengthen the Endangered Species Act, prevent big game trophy imports, reform factory farming, end euthanasia in animal shelters and eliminate cosmetic testing on animals.
His People and Planet First environmental plan also aims for the U.S. economy to have net zero emissions by 2050, for electric power to be carbon neutral by 2030 and for 10 million jobs to be created. His People First Housing plan would further include $200 billion in funding for a green infrastructure, ranging from public transportation to electric vehicle charging. While Castro’s claimed first executive order as president would be to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate, he has also previously welcomed fracking as San Antonio mayor, according to InsideClimate News. To this, he has said we’re coming to the end of natural gas as a bridge fuel, though his plan doesn’t currently ban fracking.
Finally, Castro is one of only a few candidates with a plan for Indigenous communities, including supporting climate resiliency among larger plans to strengthen tribal sovereignty, honor treaty commitments and remove voting barriers.
You can read his plans for the environment, animal welfare and Indigenous communities.
GABBARD
“This is why, as a member of Congress, long before there was ever a Green New Deal, I introduced the most ambitious climate change legislation ever in Congress called the Off Fossil Fuels Act. That actually laid out an actionable plan to take us from where we are today to transition off of fossil fuels and invest in green renewable energy, invest in workforce training, invest in the kinds of infrastructure that we need to deal with the problems and the challenges that climate is posing to us today.”
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard is a congresswoman from Hawaii with a history of creating legislation that’s pro-environment. This includes the OFF Act passed in August of 2017, which would transition the country away from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy by 2035. She also is an ardent supporter of the protection of coral reefs and oceans, a topic closer to home for Gabbard, a Hawaiian; she has created legislation in this area as well. She was endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club in her 2018 run for Congress and was honored with the Friend of the National Parks Award in 2015. She supports banning fracking and ending fossil fuel subsidies, and she would focus on finding clean energy alternatives.
You can view her plan here.
BUTTIGIEG
“Acknowledging these shameful failures in our relationship with Tribal Nations and recommitting our energies toward active diplomacy are the best ways to heal and move forward together.”
Pete Buttigieg
South Bend Mayor Buttigieg is one of only a few candidates with explicit plans for Indigenous communities. Beyond respecting tribal sovereignty and treaties, he has numerous environmental policies designed to prevent energy development and mining on sacred lands, develop adaptation and mitigation plans for tribal communities and make sure they benefit from the clean energy transition.
Regarding climate change, Buttigieg has plans to transition to net zero economy emissions by 2050, create 3 million new jobs, produce only zero emissions passenger vehicles by 2035 and larger transportation methods by 2040, retain workers displaced by the clean energy transition and increase the leadership role of the United States by supporting projects in developing countries and recommitting the country to the Paris Agreement. He also favors banning new fracking and fossil fuel development on federal lands. Although he is the youngest candidate, he has had firsthand experience with climate hazards, dealing with 1,000- and 500-year floods in South Bend in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Despite being in a Republican-dominated state, Buttigieg has set up an Office of Sustainability in South Bend, Indiana and takes pride in mentoring other Indiana cities on taking charge against climate change.
You can read his Indian Country and climate change plans here.
WARREN
“Climate crisis is the existential crisis for our world. It puts every living thing on this planet at risk. I have a plan for a green industrial policy that takes advantage of the fact that we do what we do best, and that is innovate and create. So I’ve proposed putting $2 trillion in so we do the research. We then say anyone in the world can use it so long as you build it right here in America.”
Elizabeth Warren
Senator Warren believes that meeting emissions goals can’t be solved “with a one-time, one-size-fits-all approach.” She prefers to have a plan for just about everything, integrating different sectors and industries in order for all to work toward zero net emissions by 2030. Warren is also very committed to scientific research, supporting the Green Apollo Program, a $400 billion clean energy research project. Acknowledging the environmental justice issue, Warren promises to invest $1 trillion in frontline communities suffering the most from the effects of climate change. On a more international scale, she would also return the U.S. to the Paris Climate Accord and require the Pentagon to achieve net-zero emissions at all of its non-combat bases by 2030.
You can view her plan here.
YANG
“The last four years have been the four warmest years in recorded history. This is going to be a tough truth, but we are too late. We are 10 years too late. We need to do everything we can to start moving the climate in the right direction, but we also need to start moving our people to higher ground.
And the best way to do that is to put economic resources into your hands so you can protect yourself and your families.”
Andrew Yang
While entrepreneur Andrew Yang initially seems pessimistic regarding global warming (his headline for the plan reads “It’s worse than you think,” and the opening sentence is “Our planet is a mess”), he does have some ambitious and unique plans. He seeks to meet net zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 and across new buildings by 2025, as well as reach zero emissions for new cars and the entire country’s electricity by 2035. Yang would raise money and incentivize consumers to choose clean energy with a carbon fee-and-dividend system, in which taxes of $40 per ton are partially returned to citizens to subsidize clean energy purchases. Yang differs from other candidates in a few respects, namely by backing nuclear technology investment and supporting potential “emergency options” to reverse global warming, like space mirrors, sulfur dioxide scattering in the stratosphere and ocean plankton seeding. One of his more interesting policies is “The Penny Makes No Cents,” in which he suggests eliminating the penny because it costs more than it’s worth to taxpayers, wastes time to count and is bad for the environment because of the required zinc and copper mining.
You can view his climate change policy and other environmental policies.
BOOKER
"While climate change is a threat to all of us, it is low-income communities, communities of color and Indigenous communities who today and in the future will suffer the most from climate change. As a Senator I have made environmental justice a top priority, and I will continue to do so on the campaign trail and in the White House – and there is no bigger environmental justice issue than climate change."
Cory Booker
Environmental justice, the equal involvement and protection of all communities in regards to the environment, has remained one of Senator Booker’s main talking points. Should he win the presidency, he plans on taking action to improve environmental justice for Indigenous communities, rural communities, communities of color and other minority communities. Some of his strategies include holding large polluters legally responsible for the harm they’ve caused these communities as well as re-establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps, which would both create jobs for affected communities and help to protect the environment. Booker has also set some ambitious deadlines, including calling for 100% carbon-free electricity, planting 100 million urban trees by 2030 and achieving a carbon-neutral economy by 2045. The way he claims he would quickly make good on these promises is with executive action, such as executive orders.
You can view his plan here.
BIDEN
“I refuse to postpone any longer taking on climate change, and leading the world in taking on climate change. Look, this is the United States of America. There has never been a single, solitary time when we’ve set our mind to something that we’ve not been able to do it.”
Joe Biden
Aside from a few missed chances, Biden has historically supported environmentally friendly policies. He introduced the Global Climate Protection Act of 1986 to the Senate, making him one of the first ever to introduce a climate change bill. It called for an EPA national policy on climate change, though it was largely wrapped into a spending bill the following year, according to InsideClimate News. While he missed a vote on possibly the strongest global warming bill ever presented to the Senate (the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act), his other actions have led the League of Conservation Voters to give him a lifetime score of 83 percent on environmental voting. Biden’s climate change plan supports the Green New Deal as a framework and aims to achieve an entirely clean energy economy and net zero emissions by 2050. His campaign also promises that he will sign numerous executive orders on day one that “go well beyond the Obama-Biden Administration platform and put us on the right track.” Among the specifics of his plans include making sure America’s infrastructure is resilient to climate change, rejoining the Paris Agreement, protecting disproportionately harmed communities, fulfilling obligations to workers who have powered our industrial revolution and making climate change a core national security priority.
You can view his climate change plan here.
HARRIS
“As president, I will hold polluters accountable for the damage they inflict upon our environment and set us on a path to a 100 percent clean economy that creates millions of good-paying jobs… This crisis demands urgency and boldness, and as president, I will act.”
Kamala Harris
Senator Harris has a strong history of supporting the environment, going after polluters as California’s attorney general and boasting a 100% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters. Her climate change plan has five pillars: “a foundation for justice,” “holding polluters accountable,” “building a clean economy that works for people,” “protecting our natural resources” and “asserting international leadership.” Harris’ climate plan entails $10 trillion over the next 10 years and strives to make the U.S. carbon neutral by 2030. Other details include phasing out fossil fuel development on public lands, making public lands net carbon sinks by 2030 and implementing a climate pollution fee to reduce carbon emissions while also investing in community environmental and economic development.
You can view her climate plan here.
KLOBUCHAR
“On day one, I will get us back into the international climate change agreement. On day two, I will bring back the Clean Power rules that President Obama had worked on. On day three, I will bring back the gas mileage standards. You can do all that without Congress, which is good. On day four, five and six, I will – working with Congress and mayors and businesspeople all over the country – introduce sweeping legislation to get at that 2050 goal. And on day seven, you’re supposed to rest, but I won’t.”
Amy Klobuchar
Senator Klobuchar has been big on talking about what she will do immediately after she takes office. In her first 100 days, she would restore the Clean Power Plan, bring back vehicle fuel economy standards, strengthen the Clean Air Act, reinstate the National Climate Assessment Advisory Committee, recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement and eliminate climate science censoring. She also proposes $1 trillion in funding for infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs as part of a green economy. Other policy plans include putting a price on carbon pollution, raising money through clean energy bonds and ending federal fossil fuel subsidies. As a Senator, she has introduced bills for carbon-tracking and expanding renewable energy tax credits. Klobuchar doesn’t plan to ban fracking, though she would like to better regulate it. She has endorsed safe nuclear power and cleaner coal technology development, but she does support banning new fossil fuel permitting on federal land.
You can view her climate plan here.