Candidates for the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat urged activism of younger generations and immediate action on fostering a greener economy at Boston University’s Metcalf Trustee Center in the School of Management Tuesday afternoon.
The four Democratic candidates for the seat currently held by’ interim U.S. Sen. Paul Kirk, who was appointed to the Senate following the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, answered three panelists’ questions in front of an audience of 150, no more than 50 of whom were BU students.
U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., said the U.S. is still in the early stages of building a green economy, and the brunt of the movement would fall on the younger generation.
‘Whatever we do, you’re still going to have to pick up where we left off,’ Capuano said, addressing student panelist Sydney Lupkin, a College of Communication senior and former Daily Free Press Editor-in-Chief.
Citizens must get involved in forming a green economy, at home and in politics, candidate Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year, said.
‘This is a crisis, but you all have to get involved,’ Khazei said. ‘You have to join a citizen movement.’
Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley said children from earlier generations were not educated about the environment, which is why adults now are not informed in how to tackle the problem.
‘We listen to my seven-year-old daughter,’ Khazei said, talking about what his family does to help the environment.
Candidate Stephen Pagliuca, co-owner of the Boston Celtics, emphasized education as a tool for progress.
‘If people are educated, they’ll do the right thing,’ Pagliuca said.
Candidates agreed not enough is being done overall to formally promote climate change.
‘People will not take climate change seriously,’ Coakley said. ‘It can’t be overstated, it has to be stated clearly.’
Coakley said bills must be passed on their effectiveness, and may never be ideal.
‘These bills don’t come fully-formed from heaven,’ Coakley said.
Coakley said researchers and scientists are most important for making clean industry possible, and by providing funding for research, more answers will come from science and not from the government.
Khazei countered Coakley’s point by saying the government must create incentives for those who are making an effort to be more environmentally-conscious.
‘We should reward people who put solar panels on their homes and weatherproof their homes,’ Khazei said.
The candidates said punishments must also be enforced on environmental offenders.
‘If you pollute, if you strip the environment, if you do illegal dumping, you should be fined for it,’ Coakley said.
On a national level, candidates agreed action on environmental change should be first priority in the Senate, with Khazei saying climate change is an environmental issue, an economic issue and a national security issue.
Candidates who have a strong interest in a greener economy stand out, but they must be versed in other political issues as well, Boston Harmeda consultant Monica Nakielski said.
‘I’m interested in sustainability as a topic,’ Nakielski said. ‘I’ve been following the policy for mandates for the state of Massachusetts and they are the future. Besides the obvious there are a hundred different reasons why it’s important to stimulate the economy.’
Environmental League of Massachusetts member Spencer Higgins said his ideal candidate would keep a green economy a central issue in the Senate.
‘I think a green economy could be very important for the future,’ Higgins said. ‘It’s a pretty important thing. We have to figure out something.’
The party primary election will be held on Dec. 8, and the winner will face either Republican candidate Jack E. Robinson or Mass. State Senator Scott Brown R-Wrentham, in the general election, on Jan 19, 2010.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
