With the New York gubernatorial election taking place on Nov. 4, protecting our environment has never been more important and, with this upcoming election, there is only one candidate who I trust to ensure a sustainable future: Howie Hawkins.

The vote for New York state’s next governor will take place on Nov. 4. Green Party candidate Hawkins, along with Republican Rob Astorino, will challenge incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Hawkins, who lives in Syracuse, has been involved in independent politics since the 70’s, and he was the Green Party’s candidate for New York senator in 2006.

Hawkins has been a lifelong activist. He participated in the first Earth Say, the 1970 nationwide student anti-war strike, and helped spearhead the occupation of the Seabrook nuclear plant site, an action that put nuclear protest on the map. His grassroots background makes him a man of the people, unable to be bought.  

Hawkins’ environmental stance is both tough and necessary. In an Oct. 7 interview with The Daily Orange, Hawkins said he would “ban fracking and commit to 100 percent clean energy” with a goal of having “100 percent wind, water and sun powering New York in every field by 2030.”

This is not only the needed approach, but one that has recently gained momentum, as September reports from the International Monetary Fund as well as the New Climate Economy Project detailed how climate reform will indeed spur job creation.

“People will be moving to New York state to take these jobs,” Hawkins said.

To achieve his goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean energy, Hawkins has made banning fracking statewide a central point in his campaign.

Fracking has become a recent fixture in the news. New York still has a moratorium on fracking, meaning that its legality is pending an environmental review. Cuomo has remained frustratingly silent on any indication regarding a decision and still has not given a timeframe.

But an Oct. 6 article from www.capitolnewyork.com detailed how the Cuomo administration doctored a study regarding the safety of fracking, which “was going to result in a number of politically inconvenient conclusions for Cuomo.”

Hawkins explained the disappointing reality of the situation. When asked about how Cuomo is handling fracking, Hawkins said: “[Cuomo] wants to run to run for president. [Cuomo] doesn’t want to be the anti-fracking candidate in the democratic primaries. The national democratic party is pro-fracking like the Republicans are.”

Politicizing environmental issues such as fracking represents much larger issues. Key environmental decisions are made based on money, not based on their benefit to the environment. Large fossil fuel industries are able to influence decisions simply by outspending the opposition.

Hawkins echoes this notion. If he was elected, one of his first actions would be to re-staff the New York Department of Environmental Conservation so it was able to better fulfill its abilities, Hawkins said. This is critical, given the nature of some recent DEC decisions. “Right now you could call it the Department of Environmental Corruption,” said Hawkins.

One of the more egregious examples came in December of 2013 when a Dec. 9 www.truthdig.com article reported the DEC permitted the use of fluids left over from fracking to de-ice roads. “That’s just permitting them to pollute,” said Hawkins.  

With so much work to be done to reverse faltering environmental policies, New York state needs an extreme turnaround. Both Cuomo and Astorino claim they will enact environmentally beneficial policies, as any two smart politicians should, but neither of them possesses the incentive or the track record to give voters any confidence.

Protecting our environment has never been more of a pressing issue. Our generation has been thrown into a fire, and we are the ones who must ensure we escape. Individual action is important, no doubt about it but, as Hawkins puts it, “We can’t change the direction of society by consumer choices. We need to get control of the production decisions.”

This is why when the Nov. 4 election comes along, I will be voting for Howie Hawkins. And you should too.

Azor Cole is a junior public relations major and geography minor. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at  azcole@syr.edu.

Published on October 15, 2014 at 12:01 am