Green presidential picks - part II, Republican

The Democrats had their turn, and this was the GOP's week to introduce its platform and candidates to the country.

If you're researching environmental issues in the 2008 presidential election, the party conventions give you a good place to start.

To collect info. for those who think about the planet when they vote, I searched through the speeches at both conventions and counted all the references to terms like "clean energy," "renewable energy," "climate change," "global warming," "green-collar jobs," and "environment."

In part I of this series, I found about 148 references to green concepts in speeches at the DNC convention.

Reviewing the archives of the Republican convention's speeches, I found about 44 mentions of green ideas.

President George W. Bush said candidate John McCain "will invest in the energy technologies of tomorrow -- and lift the ban on drilling for America's offshore oil today." U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman proclaimed: "If John McCain was just another go-along partisan politician, he never would have led the fight to fix our broken immigration system or to do something about global warming." And the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuno predicted that "under President McCain's leadership we will become a leader in the new global green economy; by protecting our environment and addressing climate change; by promoting energy efficiency; and, finally, by cracking down on the speculative pricing of oil."

Vice presidential Sarah Palin candidate emphasized energy independence themes from the Republican party platform: "Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more nuclear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources."

Presidential nominee John McCain added to the climate change and energy topics he's addressed during his campaign so far: "We will produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells offshore, and we’ll drill them now. We will build more nuclear power plants. We will develop clean coal technology. We will increase the use of wind, tide, solar, and natural gas. We will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid, and electric automobiles."

So now you can compare the two major parties' stand on the environment, climate change, and renewable energy. Next week, I'll summarize the positions of third-party and independent presidential candidates who are likely to show up on ballots around the country.