The final control group received only a brief, generic call to address environmental issues. They also tended to report greater likelihood of engaging in a variety of conservation behaviors, and feeling more connected to the natural environment. In research Wolsko currently has under review, he attempted to come up with a moral frame that affirms both liberal and conservative moral values. He is seeing similar, if not better responses in this experiment, he says.
He asks both liberal and conservative audiences to look through and choose values they feel might unite people across the political spectrum on environmental issues. The climate policies that Biden has proposed so far are a mix of executive action and proposals for Congress to fund climate-friendly investments. His American Jobs Plan includes encouragement for electric vehicle purchases and charging station construction, a clean electricity standard and tax credits for clean electricity development, and support for low-carbon industrial processes.
The situation of one political party out of step with a majority of the American people seems like an unsteady state, a disequilibrium that cannot hold.
As an American concerned about climate and looking toward a low-carbon future, I wish that were so. But the Republican Party is sticking together in opposition. The anti-majoritarian structure of the Senate gives the minority power to block legislation and require 60 votes for passage. Democrats can take advantage of their narrow control of the Senate to pass support for green investments through the budget reconciliation process , and perhaps afterward point out the popularity of the legislation among average Republicans.
Unless and until that changes, I fear that U. Samantha Gross , David G. Kane , Christina Kwauk , Barry G. Planet Policy. The findings, interpretations and conclusions posted on Brookings. Related Books. They have raised a specter of technocracy, of a rule by experts and allied elites that anti-environmental conservatives have effectively exploited.
In the process, supporters of environment protection have been thoroughly outflanked. This perfect storm of anti-environmental conservatism now seems poised to strike against our environmental agencies and laws with a destructive force never before seen in our modern era. In response, environmental groups, hitherto quiescent environmental professionals, and more — all Americans who care about the health of our country and our planet — need to find new ways and means of mobilizing against it, and fast.
As our Republican Congress is unlikely to wield the hearings and subpeonas that brought down Gorsuch and Watt, others must step in. Journalists, environmentalists, former and current agency officials, any and everyone with a story to tell, need to get word out about the coming cuts, corruption, and their fallout, making the most of all tools at hand, from marches to digital and social media.
Scientific understanding and data offer our best window into environmental conditions and problems; without them, our environmental statutes would have little direction, and the resulting policies no teeth. It also serves those places and people whose conditions it studies, and ideally, whose problems it illuminates not just for experts and policy-makers but for all. The fight for the environment still needs to be carried into agency hearings and courtrooms; for that, the big environmental groups are getting ready.
But additional battle lines must be opened in town halls and in local electoral politics. Any roadmap toward a more pro-environment Congress must begin not so much in the cities — already heavily Democratic — as in our suburbs, where modern environmentalism itself was born. Though they are now widely derided and written off in environmental circles, suburbs have emerged as the great swing zones of American politics, even as many are surprisingly prone to green retrofits.
Challenges to that agenda will stand a better chance if they can also stoke the embers of an older pro-environment Republicanism that continue to glow.
Despite lock-step messaging from their leaders, media, and big donors, conservative constituencies such as hunters still support protecting public lands , and around half of all Republicans do worry about climate change.
Only a similarly determined, broad, and long-term quest for electoral influence will enable pro-environmental politicians to push back. He is the author of Crabgrass Crucible: Suburban Nature and the Rise of Environmentalism in 20th-Century America , and forthcoming books on the history of environmental politics in Atlanta, Texas, and Mexico.
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. How Republicans came to embrace anti-environmentalism.
Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Wikimedia Commons The Reagan administration takes a swing at environmental agencies and regulation Riding these political tides to the White House, the early Reagan administration undertook a frontal assault on environmental agencies and regulation much like what we are now seeing.
The third war against the federal environmental state has begun The anti-environmental Republicans now in charge enjoy advantages over their predecessors of and that seem veritably monumental.
Environmental groups need to find new ways of mobilizing -- and fast This perfect storm of anti-environmental conservatism now seems poised to strike against our environmental agencies and laws with a destructive force never before seen in our modern era.
Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email.
0コメント