Last week at Defend Our Future’s roundtable luncheon at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, numerous Republicans and conservatives came together to talk about how we can get to a cleaner and more prosperous future, securing a better environment for generations to come. Conservatives of all stripes stepped up and declared their support for new, market-based solutions to environmental challenges, but insisted they’d do it as conservatives. They all had different backgrounds, ideologies and perspectives, but they did agree that something has to be done and the solutions need to be put forward by Republicans. The discussion was great, but what made it different from most discussions is it didn’t turn into a blame game, it was about solutions!
My friend Alex Bozmoski, who runs former Congressman Bob Inglis’s RepublicEn (a pro-climate action organization targeting Republicans and conservatives), was there to recount that there is a strong and growing faction in the Republican Party who are climate realists, and are ready to do something about the challenge ahead.
“Instead of being the party of hating all the left solutions, there’s a hunger, especially younger folk, to be the party that advances solutions,” Alex said at our lunch, where we were not only interested in the great food but real ideas.
This week, Defend held a similar event at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, and our moderator brought up growing support among Republicans (albeit small right now) to the climate activists in the room, who seemed surprised that Republican climate realists existed. One person chimed in about a former Republican Congressman on her board, with a swift response of ‘well, they talk about it once they’re out of Congress, not while they’re in DC.’
There are numerous Republican (yes, I know, there needs to be way more) who do step up in favor of climate action, most notably Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo, representing south of Miami and the Keys. With his constituents affected on an almost daily basis by climate change and sea level rise, Curbelo has called on the GOP to get on board with real solutions and do so quickly. Maybe he needs to be louder, and maybe also Democrats could pay more attention — I’m not sure it’s helpful to lump us all together and say ‘Republicans have their head in the sand.’
Don’t get me wrong, there are Republicans who are flat out wrong about climate, such as Senator James Inhofe who once brought a snowball onto the Senate floor oddly trying to assert that disproved climate change. But this Republican counts himself among the ‘eco-Right’ and is ready for a cleaner and more prosperous future.
The GOP made me tear my hair out last week with its platform, and Democrats making sweeping generalizations about Republicans seem to be colluding in an effort to make me bald! I want solutions that can help people and nature prosper. We don’t need partisan sniping and gridlock, which makes both parties’ ‘base’ feel good, but leaves us with an environment and economy act risk.
Let’s ditch the snark and work on getting the job done.
