This weekend, I sat down to write a report about the challenges facing our newly elected governor, Ralph Northam. One thing I found particularly interesting is the attention the Democratic party has paid to global warming — and what it can learn from Republicans.
For the past decade, the GOP’s leadership has been persistently critical of scientific consensus on climate change, and generally questioned the legitimacy of government efforts to address it. Rick Perry is a prime example of this — the former governor of Texas emphasized the importance of finding hydrocarbons for energy, not choosing more sustainable forms of energy, during his brief tenure in the Obama administration.
If Democrats want to focus on an issue that directly impacts millions of people, like climate change, they must start rejecting the public subsidies for fossil fuels and demanding that companies invest in clean energy. “Just as the fossil fuel industry funded climate change denial in the past, we expect the fossil fuel industry to fund climate change disinformation,” tweeted Richard Florida, a leading urbanist and proponent of sustainable development.
Democratic proposals aside, Republicans have also had plenty of time to answer this question in the past year — as evidenced by Gov. Perry’s decision to leave the Paris Accord in December. However, Democrats may find it interesting that such a move would be received poorly by the public, to say the least.
This story will be updated throughout the week.