In the four years that I’ve worked daily to promote solutions to climate change, I’ve experienced more ups and downs than I could possibly count. I’m not going to lie — election day was definitely a low point. How do we build toward prudent, workable policy solutions when the new president is also climate denier-in-chief?
But as I have searched for answers in the days since the election, I’ve come to a new and more hopeful realization. This is a case where a wall may actually be ready to come down.
Although President Trump has called global climate change a hoax and has said that he will pull the U.S. out of Paris Climate Accord, he also has shown that he often says things just to provoke a reaction. Distracted by ill-conceived pipelines to stranded assets, I suspect that he thinks acknowledging climate change means signing on to more government regulation. We can show him an alternative path that grows the economy without expanding the size of government.
There are lots more jobs in sources of renewable energy like solar and wind than there are in fossil fuels.
Even the president’s selection of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of State may actually be a positive sign. We now know Exxon’s history of climate-change denial and paying for denialists to spread doubt, even while the company’s own scientists were telling executives that the risks were real and growing. But it was Tillerson who spearheaded changes at the company.
More than a decade ago, his public statements started acknowledging that climate change is real, and that the burning of fossil fuels is making it worse. More recently, he has called a tax on carbon-based fuels “a more direct, a more transparent and a more effective approach” to limiting the greenhouse-gas emissions that are warming the planet.
As Nixon opened doors to China and Clinton championed welfare reform, maybe Trump and Tillerson can claim this issue as their own.
But the truth is for substantive policy action to happen, the impetus has to start in Congress, which desperately needs to prove it can still solve big problems. The search for an issue with bipartisan possibilities just might lead to climate change.
Believe it or not, there are signs of progress.
After more than 25 meetings with congressional offices in Orange County, where I live, and during three trips to D.C., I’ve seen Republican attitudes shift dramatically. These days, some of our best meetings are with GOP Congress members and staff, as growing numbers acknowledge that climate change is a problem that needs solving.
With recent additions that include Reps. Mia Love, R-Utah, and Brian Mast, R-Fla., there are now 20 members of the House Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, which may be our best hope for serious progress on climate policy. The presence of longtime climate advocates like Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, helps add an appropriate level of urgency.
The caucus is where I go in search of optimism. The chair is Florida Republican Carlos Curbelo, who during his first term in Congress ignored possible political risks and stepped up to lead on this issue. Not only did he win re-election, but his GOP colleagues also gave him a seat on the influential Ways and Means Committee. He put the planet before politics and actually banked some political capital. Maybe others will find similar courage and flip this issue in their favor.
The good news for them and for us is that there are market-based policy options that don’t ask anyone to compromise values. For instance, by putting a fee on carbon-based fuels but returning the money directly to U.S. households, we can speed our transition to a clean energy future without more subsidies and government regulation. An analysis by Regional Economic Modeling Inc. shows that under this plan, not only do we cut carbon emissions in half in 20 years, and but we create more than 2 million new jobs, and we expand GDP.
There was a time when Republicans viewed prudent environmental stewardship as a fundamental principle of conservatism. Maybe the prospect of economic growth that empowers clean-energy entrepreneurs can spark a renaissance of that spirit.
This may seem like a whole lot of faith to place in a system still largely powered by fossil-fuel industry influence. But after four grass-roots years invested in creating the political will for a livable world, I can tell you that faith in American ideals remains a pretty good source of sustenance.
Dennis Arp is a volunteer for Citizens Climate Lobby. He lives in Orange County.
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