Really Looking Forward to the Presumably Forthcoming Environmental Presidential Debate

Wow, have I been enjoying the presidential debates this year. It's well known among my social circle that as each successive debate arrives I am overcome with glee, trembling enough to make it difficult to operate the remote control for my television as I prepare for the pre-debate analysis (which candidate better managed expectations?), the debate and, my very favorite, the post-debate analysis (which candidate won?).

Needless to say, while I enjoyed the debate on domestic policy, the enlightening town-hall debate on matters both foreign and domestic and most recently the debate on foreign policy, I am particularly looking forward to the debate on environmental and energy issues.

I have not found it on the Commission on Presidential Debates calendar, but I presume that it simply has not been added yet, so as not to distract from the already scheduled debates. This is pretty common practice—when a band has two shows in the same market, for example, they are often contractually forbidden from announcing the second date until the first has passed. So I will just be refreshing the Commission's website until I find the one about environmental affairs. I encourage you to do this as well, just in case I have to get up to drink a glass of water or throw myself off a cliff or something.

At GOOD, we've gathered a lot of content around What You Won't Hear at the Presidential Debates, including:

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• Five Crucial Education Fixes\n
• That Both Parties Love to Hate, But Hate to Close Tax Loopholes\n
• Talk About the Bombs We Left Behind\n
• Facing the 'School-to-Prison' Pipeline\n
• Real Middle East Peace Solutions\n
• A Response to Racism in America\n
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There was also this one, Conservative Solutions to Climate Change, but presumably that will be taken up in the almost-definitely-going-to-happen environmental debate, right?

Normally I wouldn't really see a need for a separate environmental debate, given that it is both a domestic and a foreign issue, but the candidates seem to be pretty disciplined about withholding comment on environmental issues during the debates so far, which is why I presume there must be one coming.

Here are a few things that I think they'll have to address (looking forward to it, guys!):

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• The real implications of projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline (which do not include energy independence)
• How EPA would (or would not) regulate carbon dioxide—and by the way, did you know that Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts when that state was instrumental in the process of getting EPA to declare carbon dioxide dangerous?
• A follow-up to their great conversation about who likes coal more, but this time, who likes coal slurry more—way more interesting! Also, in the spirit of debate memes, I think Slurry would be an ok name for a "Sesame Street" character. "How's it going, Slurry?" "Terrible! I'm full of carcinogens!"
• The thrilling punchline to the now very long-running gag that the president controls gas prices (by the way, meant to write a post on this earlier, but here's one weird old trick for reducing gas prices: buy less gas)
• And a whole slew of other issues—don't both parties like to say that there's a clear contrast in visions?
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And those are just some of my guesses. The Nation made their own list, too (but they—hilariously—pegged it to the first debate).

So, again, if you guys hear what date and time that the probably-for-sure-airing-soon environmental debate is going to happen, just hit me up in the comments or on Twitter.

Which probably-upcoming debates are you looking forward to?

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.