PrintWe don't need to spend too much time stuck in the quagmire of politics and climate change. That's time better spent in GEOG 432. However, it's worth noting that for better or worse, this is currently a politically divisive topic. However, it's not that simple. I repeat: it's not that simple. American politics has this unfortunate tendency to be very binary, especially in a time with such partisan divide as now (thanks, two party system!). But perhaps if you take nothing else away from this class, I want you to walk away with this: we can't let broader politics define our willingness to act on climate. We just can't.
So right now, it may seem as though democrats or more liberal-leaning folks are the ones who support climate action and republicans or more conservative-leaning folks do not. And you'll see in the public opinion readings that this bears out to a large extent. But it's not the whole story, and in this class we're not making generalized assumptions based on politics.
First things first - it hasn't always been this way. Conservation has historically been well, conservative. Some of our more landmark environmental policies have been enacted under Republican leaders - the establishment of the national parks system, the EPA, Clean Air and Water Acts - all under Republican leadership. It's really only been since the early 2000s that we've seen it become a political hot potato. And we could go on an expedition to find out why, but we don't need to for this class. What I want you to understand is that while we see a lot of divisiveness on the issue in Congress along party lines, that doesn't play out as well in the public (just wait until you check out those Yale Climate Opinion maps!).
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I want to demonstrate that there is a place for careful stewardship of our natural resources within conservative values (there are those values again - influencing our positions on things!).
- RepublicEN - established by former Congressman Bob Inglis from South Carolina, this organization seeks to support market-based solutions to a changing climate
- Climate Solutions Caucus - there's one for the House and one for the Senate - these are bipartisan groups of congresspeople working together toward federal climate action
So really, I just wanted to take a step back and say that while on the surface we may think we understand the party lines, and that is true in many ways, it's not good to make generalized judgments. Instead, we need to find ways for everyone to work together to address climate change while also addressing the values that matter most to them.