Red, Blue & Green: Republicans and Democrats Go Convention Green

With the Republican and Democratic conventions approaching, and candidates airing new ads nearly every day, the primary issues have long since found their place in political conversations: national security, health care, energy. As I've written before, climate change is close to, but not yet on that list.

And so it comes as a welcome relief to find that both parties, now, are entering another race: for the most sustainable convention in their parties' histories.

That bar is, admittedly, somewhat low, as neither party has ever held a convention with the explicit intention of reducing their waste, or their carbon footprint. But that doesn't mean the move isn't significant.

It's my opinion that the environment is a lynchpin of many of the issues driving the contemporary political debate. For instance, according to many, including President Clinton, the shift to a low carbon economy could stimulate economic growth on the scale of the industrial revolution. Moreover, the environment is not merely about trees, or animal life in a country you'll likely never visit, but about standards of American public health, about improving our national security and, even, our international credibility.

And so, I applaud both parties. Marrying the principle of carbon reduction to the parties' convention agendas is, at the risk of a terrible pun, a natural fit. But what does it mean?

"I think we are going to be the greenest convention in GOP history," said Joanna Burgos, the press secretary for the Republican Convention, to be held Sept 1-4 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Democrats' goal has been much the same. According to Andrea Robinson, Director of Sustainability and Greening for the DNCC, she wants to hold not only the most sustainable convention in Democratic party history, but "the most sustainable political convention in modern American history."

The question is whether any of these convention actions will translate into policy or, as Charles De Gaulle suggested, whether politicians will be surprised to be taken at their word.

What is remarkable is just how many similarities there are between the Democratic and Republican green initiatives. These include:

• Xcel Energy will be providing the power for both conventions, and has said that it will match some portion of the power used at the sites with an equal amount of new wind power produced elsewhere. Solar power will also be used on-site at both conventions.
• A thousand bicycles available for convention-goers to get around both the Twin Cities and Denver.
• Efforts are in place to drastically increase recycling and reduce waste headed to the landfill.
• Improved efficiency of office spaces, through reductions in power consumption and paper waste. Recycled office furniture has been purchased for both conventions. Both also operate out of an energy efficient building.

And what about those balloons, you say?

According to Burgos, this isn't an issue. They're biodegradable, according to the industry, and will only be released inside.

Robinson, on the other hand, wasn't content to take industry's word for it. She buried the balloons in a steaming compost heap, only to check them later on to find them still intact.

(Photo credit: Image of balloons taken by rollerboogie @ flickr, courtesy of Creative Commons license.)