Jill Stein in ScienceDebate.org


On Energy & Oil: Climate change is humanity's greatest existential threat

Climate change is the greatest existential threat that humanity has ever faced. Here is how we will address it:
Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

On Environment: Ban neonicotinoid pesticides that threaten pollinators

Q: What steps will you take to protect biological diversity?

STEIN: Protecting biodiversity is an extremely important and often overlooked priority. Here is how we will act to protect biodiversity:

  1. Protect our public lands, water supplies, biological diversity & parks. Ban neonicotinoids and other pesticides that threaten the survival of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
  2. Label GMOs, and put a moratorium on new GMOs and pesticides until they are proven safe.
  3. Support organic and regenerative agriculture and sustainable forestry.
  4. Protect the rights of future generations. Adopt the Precautionary Principle. The proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.
  5. Enact stronger environmental justice laws and measures to ensure that low-income and communities of color are not disproportionately impacted by harmful pollution.
  6. Support conversion to sustainable, nontoxic materials and the use of closed-loop, zero waste processes.
    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Environment: Apply federal Superfund program to polluted drinking water

    Q: What steps will you take to deal with aging infrastructure, aquifer depletion, pollution, and ensure access to clean water?

    JILL STEIN: We need a national comprehensive water plan. Clean water is a human right. The Green New Deal's focus on infrastructure will help prevent future poisoned drinking water crises like that in Flint, Michigan. Rejuvenating the federal Superfund program will help clean up the polluted drinking water of millions of Americans.

    TRUMP: must explore all options to include making desalinization more affordable and working to build the distribution infrastructure to bring this scarce resource to where it is needed for our citizens and those who produce the food of the world.

    CLINTON: Chronic underinvestment in our nation's drinking and wastewater systems poses health risks to humans and wildlife, disrupts ecosystems, and disproportionately impacts communities of color.

    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Health Care: Vaccines are a foundation to a strong public health system

    Q: How will your administration support vaccine science?

    STEIN: Vaccines are a critical part of our public health system. Vaccines prevent serious epidemics that would cause harm to many people and that is why they are a foundation to a strong public health system. Polio is an important example. So is H Flu--a bacteria that caused serious illness, including meningitis, in 20,000 children a year in the US, before development of the H flu vaccine. We need universal health care as a right to ensure that everyone has access to critical vaccines. The best way to overcome resistance to vaccination is to acknowledge and address concerns and build trust with hesitant parents. We can do that by removing corporate influence from our regulatory agencies to eliminate apparent conflicts of interest and show skeptics, in this case vaccine-resistant parents, that the motive behind vaccination is protecting their children's health, not increasing profits for pharmaceutical companies.

    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Health Care: Early diagnosis and intervention for mental illness

    Q: What will you do to reduce the human and economic costs of mental illness?

    JILL STEIN: As part of a Medicare for All universal health care system we need a mental health care system that safeguards human dignity, respects individual autonomy, and protects informed consent. In addition to full funding for mental health care, this means making it easier for the chronically mentally ill to apply for and receive Supplemental Security Income, and funding programs to increase public awareness of and sensitivity to the needs of the mentally ill and differently abled.

    We must ensure that the government takes all steps necessary to fully diagnose and treat the mental health conditions resulting from service in combat zones, including post- traumatic stress disorder. We will also release prisoners with diagnosed mental disorders to secure mental health treatment centers, and ensure psychological and medical care and rehabilitation services for mentally ill prisoners.

    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Immigration: H1-B Visa program is ok, but help global economy abroad

    Q: What is your opinion of recent controversy over employment and the H1-B Visa program?

    JILL STEIN: We support the H1-B Visa program. However, we must look at it in the context of overall immigration policy, trade, economic and military policies. In the big picture, we are concerned about a global economy in which people have to leave their home countries to find decent jobs. We support more just international development and demilitarization, so that people don't have to go half way around the world to find just employment.

    DONALD TRUMP: We cannot allow companies to abuse this system. When we have American citizens and those living in the United States legally being pushed out of high paying jobs so that they can be replaced with "cheaper" labor, something is wrong. The H1-B system should be employed only when jobs cannot be filled with qualified Americans and legal residents.

    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Technology: Demilitarize outer space; don't privatize outer space

    Q: What should America's national goals be for space exploration?

    STEIN: We recognize the inspiration provided by space exploration and so we support:

    1. the peaceful exploration of space
    2. space-based systems to monitor environmental conditions on Earth
    3. measures to ensure that space technology benefits all the people of Earth
    Space exploration requires cooperation between many nations. The US can lead international collaboration without privatizing outer space or turning over space science & exploration efforts to corporations. Here are steps we will take:
  7. Funding STEM education and forgiving student debt of STEM scholars
  8. signing of the International Treaty for the Demilitarization of Space.
  9. Ensuring scientists, not corporate or military interests, are driving the space exploration & science agenda
  10. Ensure funding of pure research, for the benefit of all humanity & our planet.
  11. Work closely with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)..
    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Technology: Negotiate an international treaty banning cyberwarfare

    Q: What steps will you take to protect vulnerable infrastructure and institutions from cyber attack, while protecting personal privacy on electronic devices and the internet?

    JILL STEIN: The Internet and the access to information it provides is an extremely important resource for the entire world. Here is how we will protect and improve the Internet:

    CLINTON: I will make it clear that the United States will treat cyberattacks just like any other attack. We will be ready with serious political, economic and military responses and we will invest in protecting our governmental networks and national infrastructure.

    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    On Technology: Make science policy more democratic & responsive to citizens

    Q: Many scientific advances require long-term investment to fund research over a period of longer than the two year terms that govern political cycles. How will you balance long-term funding?

    JILL STEIN: Presidents are able to affect long term R&D priorities by creating institutions focused on research like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health that are to some extent insulated from short-term political cycles. We will revisit these institutions--their charge, focus, and operations--to ensure that they're performing as expected. We will look for opportunities and mechanisms whereby science policy can be made more democratic, and more responsive to the preferences and needs of average citizens.

    CLINTON: I share the concerns of the science and technology community that the US is underinvesting in research. Federal funding of basic research amounts to less than 1% of annual federal spending, yet it is an investment that pays big dividends.

    Source: ScienceDebate.org: 20 questions for 2016 presidential race Oct 9, 2016

    The above quotations are from 20 Questions on science from ScienceDebate.org.
    Click here for other excerpts from 20 Questions on science from ScienceDebate.org.
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    Page last updated: Nov 30, 2020