Young Republican Breakaways To Fight Climate Change

Millennial Trump Supporters Are Breaking With Their Party Over Climate Change

Oliver Milman, April 15, 2019 (UK Guardian via Mother Jones)

“…[The White House is getting increasing pushback against its disrespect for climate science as] lives are increasingly ravaged by flooding and wildfires…Democrats have seized the initiative with the Green New Deal resolution, which proposes full-scale social and economic change to eliminate carbon emissions while investing in education, health, transportation, and a federal jobs guarantee…[and younger Republicans are breaking the administration] in an attempt to haul their party toward scientific reality…In January, 41 state college Republican chairs of [the American Conservation Coalition, a Republican youth group founded 18 months ago but already with a presence in 125 colleges, signed a] letter to GOP leaders urging ‘action on clean energy and environmental issues’ to ensure ‘conservative values are not lost on the next generation’…

click to enlarge

Almost 60 percent of millennial Republicans agree that climate change is already having some effect on the US, according to Pew Research polling. Nearly half believe the government isn’t doing enough to alleviate the damage…With record numbers of Americans expressing alarm over climate change, it may be that flat denial of climate science is becoming unmoored from political expediency…The US has been rattled by record hurricanes and wildfires in the past two years, with government scientists predicting increasingly punishing storms, crop failures, and coastal inundation. Thousands of people are set to perish in heatwaves…The US Government Accountability Office calculates climate impacts cost the federal government $350 billion in the past decade, with economic losses on course to hit $500 billion every year by the close of the century…There’s a realization on both sides, however, that the Green New Deal and growing public concern has cracked open the debate…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet