Making Climate An All-American Issue

It is both dangerous and wrong when an issue that affects the well-being of all Americans ― no matter who they are, or where they live, or whether they are rich or poor ― is partisan and ignored by the two political parties.

For that reason, Republican and Democrat leaders should make a new year’s resolution that 2018 will be the year they cooperate to deal with America’s most critical environmental issues, chief among them global climate change.

Let’s trim away the fat that makes the politics of environment seem so complicated. We all breathe. So why should clean air be a partisan issue? Fresh water is essential to life. So why should clean water be politicized? We all deserve the opportunity for the spiritual nourishment that America’s natural treasures can give us. Our children deserve that opportunity, too. In fact, it is every generation’s obligation to preserve “America the beautiful”. So why should keeping those treasures off limits for oil, gas and other development be a Republican or Democrat issue?

Most obvious of all, every one of us is affected by the weather. Whether we live where sea levels are rising on the coasts; or we make our living by feeding America; or we want our homes, businesses and most treasured possessions to be protected from unprecedented floods and wildfires; or we do not want our loved ones threatened by suffocating heat waves and unbearable cold, we all depend on the weather to be reasonably stable and safe. So, why should global climate change be a Democrat versus Republican issue?

The answer to each of these questions is that issues so vital to the health and future of America should never have been partisanized. Nor should Democrats and Republicans be imprisoned by the generalizations that the former are environmentalists and the latter believe that growing the economy is always more important than protecting ecosystems and habitats. There are reasons that those generalizations are not always fair today.

First, there are many conservative individuals and organizations who are deeply committed to the environment, and there are Democrats who are not. Second, we have reached a point at which environmental stresses are so severe that the health of the economy itself is threatened, including jobs, entire industries and government budgets.

It has never been accurate to think that the economy and environment are disconnected from one another. Agriculture cannot function in sustained drought. Businesses, communities and families cannot function without fresh water. Weather disasters are pushing families into debt and governments into deficit spending. Moreover, the protection and preservation of ecosystems in the United States has itself become a significant source of jobs and GDP. Research shows, in fact, that the benefits of environmental regulations so often opposed by conservatives far exceed their costs.

The need for all of us to actively break down political stereotypes came to mind as I read a story this week by E&E reporter Zack Colman. “Environmental groups are at odds about how to treat a growing number of Republicans who are speaking out on climate change,” Colman writes.

Examples include the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House of Representatives; 31 of its members are Republicans and 31 are Democrats. Organizations ranging from ConservAmerica to the Evangelical Environmental Network have shown strong commitments to climate action, although for different reasons. Groups like Young Conservatives for Energy Reform focus on clean energy. Senior Republican thought leaders such as Hank Paulson and James Baker of the Climate Leadership Council are pushing for carbon pricing.

Colman reports that some environmental leaders are willing to work with conservatives and Republicans like these. Others are skeptical, while others want to see Republicans prove their commitment to climate action. The Sierra Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune says, “When they prove themselves to be reliable and courageous champions for the environment, then (they) would have their shot at earning the Sierra Club’s support.”

The initiative I lead ― the Presidential Climate Action Project ― has a bipartisan national advisory committee that includes the leaders of ConservAmerica and the Evangelical Environmental Network (Rob Sisson and the Rev. Mitch Hescox respectively) as well as former environmental leaders who have served under Republican and Democrat presidents. My personal experience has removed any doubts I might have had about the sincerity of conservatives who understand both the potentials and the need to act on climate change.

So, how might other conservatives, liberals, Republicans and Democrats increase their confidence that they are allies against global warming? Here are some suggestions:

First, all should publicly dismiss and distance themselves from Donald Trump’s absurd claim that climate change is a hoax.

Second, all should work for the restoration of the most important climate-action plans put in place by President Obama and systematically revoked or banished to legal limbo by the Trump Administration. Members of the Climate Solutions Caucus should introduce and work tirelessly for passage of an omnibus bill that not only restores many of these plans, but gives them the status of law. This would create greater stability in federal policies, which would encourage more private investment in the technologies necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Third, Republicans and Democrats alike should twist Trump’s arm to abandon his plan to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump should restore America’s leadership in fighting climate change with U.S. technologies. Members of the Climate Solutions Caucus should engage Trump in a negotiation over what America’s promise to other countries will be under the Paris accord.

Fourth, the Climate Solutions Caucus should agree on a bipartisan approach to carbon pricing and push publicly and relentlessly to pass the legislation to implement it.

Fifth, climate advocacy groups should help Republicans frame their commitment to climate action in ways that are consistent with the goals and values of traditionally conservative and faith-based organizations. For example, carbon pricing is a market-based approach to climate action ― an approach that would make many federal regulations unnecessary.

Sixth, climate action advocates from both parties should frame next November’s midterm election as the America’s referendum on national, state and local climate action. The Pew Research Center has found that 55 percent of Americans rank the environment as a top policy issue that Trump and Congress should tackle. Only defending the country from terrorist attacks and strengthening the economy ranked higher. National organizations from leaders from both political parties should make clear to the American people that clean energy technologies and climate action are critical to a strong economy and to America’s security from terrorism.

Finally, climate-action leaders in both political parties should make clear that they are representing the will of the American people. An Associated Press poll found in August that 70 percent of respondents said that climate change is underway and 61 percent including 43 percent of Republicans said the government needs to tackle it. Even more Republican voters will back climate action when they see their leaders do so, and more Republicans in Congress will feel it’s safer to support climate action after their colleagues have done so.

There is no avoiding the fact that this year will be politically charged because of the midterm elections this November. Republicans are intent on maintaining control of Congress and Democrats believe they have a chance to win it back. But this could – and should – be the election year in which our politicians work together on the environmental issues that are so obviously important to the health, welfare, economic security and resilience of our communities and the nation.