Although I do feel obligated to consider each presidential candidate's stance on the whole gamut of issues... This financial crisis and bailout is taking a full frontal assault of people's senses - the media seems to be screaming at us that this issue is paramount above all others! And granted, it is the biggest financial crisis in the US since the Great Depression but there are other issues to focus on before November 4th.

So, being inspired by watching 11th hour over the weekend, alongside spending some time in the countryside of New York State watching the rivers run and the leaves change colors - my focus shifted to the reality that what we call "the environment" is also the reality of humankind. Even if we destroy the environment, it will regenerate, but when we destroy humankind we're gone, we're out of here and the difference between Wall Street and Main Street will be which species of ferns decide to emerge from between the cracks.

So examining the Candidate's stance on Environmental issues is critical. There are a few good web resources for this purpose. Grist.org is one I recommend, where you will find (not surprisingly) that Obama's are more specific and ambitious than McCain's.

While it is practically impossible to ignore or deny these issues any longer, due to the predominant paradigm of the US' "addiction to foreign oil",. the fact that McCain does support a cap and trade system reveals a shift from the previous decade in the Republican parties' willingness to be accountable for America's consumption and carbon emissions.