Environmentalists Set Up Democratic Platform for Progressive Shift

Published June 8, 2016 7:00pm ET



The presence of a climate justice warrior who zip-tied himself to the White House fence and President Obama’s “climate czar” on the Democrats’ platform drafting committee has the party poised for a progressive shift on energy policy.

Bill McKibben and Carol Browner are the de facto energy and environment representatives on the 15-person panel, which is responsible for establishing the Democratic party’s official positions. Four years ago, the platform embraced an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy: a hackneyed political term used by both parties that proposes development of alternative energy alongside fossil fuels. As the committee convenes for the first time Wednesday, McKibben and Browner will bring worldviews that could take such relatively moderate language sharply to the left.

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