Climate chaos is hitting us now. It’s not 2000 anymore. We are not talking about future impacts. It’s here. It’s getting worse. It won’t get better until we stop treating our air as an infinite exhaust dump.
Republicans have long obstructed climate legislation while they denied and out right catalyzed climate devastation. They are a party full of paranoia and preference for blowhards and cranks over egalitarian science. They choose gangster tyranny over equitable mitigation.
In the 2022 midterms, Republicans are aiming to rev up climate devastation further, starting with reversal of modest gains made by Democrats through decades of exhausting activism and toil.
If history is any indication, a Republican Congress could spell doom for climate policy. Since the early 1990s, when the GOP took a turn toward climate-change denialism, the party has been one of the world’s top enemies of climate policy.
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There are lots of good reasons—economic, political, and electoral—that it might be unwise for Republicans to try to smash Biden’s climate policy. But they may pale in comparison with what’s virtually certain to be the supreme goal of any Republican majority: opposing Biden by any means possible.
While Republicans hold climate hostage for political power, people understand the impacts of their deadly strategy. Significant majorities acknowledge climate change driven by humans, and worry about environmental impacts. Even staid economic consultants are realizing that we need large scale fundamental changes to our economies if we are going to cut emissions enough to survive the coming chaos. The ones who don’t see it are Republicans, though younger ones are starting to come around.
Long ago, Republicans were not so anti-climate. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush signed, and the Senate ratified, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Some Republicans expressed support for cap and trade after the success of limiting ozone pollution. However, support gave way to inaction when it came time to consider binding resolutions in the Kyoto Protocol.
Now, Republicans work in lockstep with big oil, and added climate to their list of subjects that Democrats must be opposed in at every turn. According to former Republican congress member Claudine Schneider, money is the main reason.
Why has the Republican Party shifted? I have one answer for you: Money. They have been bought off by the fossil fuel industry.
Republican facilitation of climate devastation is as strong as ever. In 2022, 52% of House Republicans and 60% of Senate Republicans in the 117th US Congress denied climate change science. Zero Democrats or Independents were deniers.
Just months before the 2020 election, ~65% of surveyed US adults opined that the federal government was doing too little in regards to climate. This is consistent with decades of majority support for climate science and more federal action. It is also in line with large global majorities of survey respondents who sense that we are in a climate emergency, with more high stress heat days and declines in wellbeing.
Climate change denial and blocking mitigation is the Republican party. They have a long history. Republicans continue to choose devastation over mitigation during the Biden administration when they have opposed climate legislation in boot licking lockstep.
For registered voters, your chance to vote and stop Republican destruction ends next Tuesday, November 8, 2022.
Get out and vote.
Donate to Democratic and environmental campaigns if you can.
There is still time and tremendous need for help too. Volunteer with Democratic campaigns where you choose. I am canvassing in my Missouri hometown for Trudy Busch Valentine for Senate. Democrats need help in all 50 states. Please help where you can.