As anyone who reads this blog knows, the environment is the issue I am primarily concerned with for the 2008 presidential election. Many of the candidates have come out and stated that the environment is an important issue to them, and they will work to correct the things that have led us to global warming. Hillary Clinton is no different. She has jumped on the environmental bandwagon with everyone else. But does she really care?

Let's do some simple observance to see what she thinks of the environment. I first went to her website to see what it would tell me about her plans for environmental policy. I was greeted with a Sign Up To Support Hillary screen. There was a Skip Signup link, but it was not visible enough that people would notice it at first glance. Seems like a somewhat shady way to gain "supporters".

After getting passed the sign up screen, I was able to get past all the "How I Will End The War" information to find the page on the environment. The page has very little actual information. There is a streaming video (bad choice for dial-up users Hillary), which may tell more, but I didn't care to watch it. The page primarily just states that Hillary plans to start an alternative energy research fund to help find energy sources other than oil. There is about a paragraph about this initiative.

After digging deeper (following another link), you can get some more details about her other proposed environmental policies. This page lists things like:

- Creating a strategic energy fund (already covered).
- Support emissions caps.
- Use 20% renewable energy by 2020.
- Make Federal buildings carbon neutral.

Sounds decent enough.

Now, let's consider what she has done so far during her campaign. I am only going to consider campaign materials that I have received in the mail. There have been MANY paper flyers and informational material sent to my house without request. Yesterday, I received a DVD from Hillary (also not requested). Consider that I am just one household in a massive sea of homes across the country. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of these materials being sent out. Paper is bad enough, but at least it is easy to recycle. DVDs are another story; plastics (what DVDs are made out of) are produced from fossil fuels. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have any DVDs. I love DVDs, but when someone is just making DVDs willy-nilly and mailing them out to thousands of people who, most likely, don't have a way to recycle them, I find this wasteful. Especially for someone "determined" to reduce our dependence on foreign energy. Apparently, being wasteful is ok when it suits her own purposes.

So, Hillary, the next time you want to send me a DVD, make it something I want (i.e. The Office Season 3). That way it won't be another waste of resources.