Happy Friday! Before you hit the egg nog, check out our weekly climate change findings!
This week’s must read: Is Trump driving young Republicans out of the party? In this New York Times op-ed, Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson discusses the challenges faced by the party, which has attracted only 22 percent of Americans under 30. “The areas of biggest disagreement are climate change, immigration and refugees. Less than 33 percent of young Republicans who approve of Mr. Trump say they view climate change as a serious threat, but among young Republicans who disapprove of the president, that rises to over 60 percent.”
This week’s other must read: Talking about climate change in Trump country. (Sierra Magazine) In rural Minnesota, Rural Climate Dialogues helped reach “doubting” constituencies. “Definitely a lot of people in Minnesota would agree that there is climate change. We can feel it.”
EnCourage Tour wrap: Check out Bob’s digital journal chronicling his ten-week, eleven city tour, on which he barnstormed the country to talk leadership, promote free enterprise and summon courage to conservative audiences.
We got this: California’s former governor and one-time Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger says President Donald Trump’s rejection of the Paris climate accord doesn’t matter, because companies, scientists and other governments can “pick up the slack” to reduce global emissions. He was in Paris for an international climate summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. “Donald Trump pulled Donald Trump out of the Paris agreement,” Schwarzenegger said, noted that the private sector, cities and state governments, engineers and universities remain committed to fighting climate change. He acknowledged that many people “don’t understand what global warming or climate change really means,” and urged advocates to focus on efforts to fight pollution instead because of its health risks.
Let’s do it: Pope Francis, a strong crusader for the environment, expressed his hope that people will realize the “need to adopt truly efficient decisions to fight climate change.” His May 2015 encyclical focused on the need to protect the environment.
Come north: Vermont’s Gov. Phil Scott positioned his state as a place for those seeking refuge from the impacts of climate change. They “have to relocate somewhere” he said of people fleeing wildfires and drought. “Climate change, to any state, to all of usany countryis probably going to have a negative effect on us in some way. But we are positioned, I think, we live in the Northeast, I think we’re in a pretty good position, with an abundance of water and other attributes, to look quite good as compared to other states in America. We could be the Mecca,” he said.
Enjoy the weekend. If you have spare time, I’m still waiting for my birth-mas present carbon tax…