Today’s Week En Review comes to you from the sandy Army Corps of Engineers-enhanced Jersey shore where evidence of Hurricane Sandy is still apparent. While national focus has not been entirely on climate this week, the eco-right has been busy flexing its muscle.
This week’s must read: The Des Moines Register published this piece today by our very own Kelsi Wolever, who in 2015 and 2016 trailed the GOP candidates for president campaigning in her home state of Iowa.
This week’s must read/watch: A passionate hunter/angler takes his message on climate change to conservative hunting and angling clubs in the Northwest.
Caucus hits 50: The bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus has hit 50 members with the recent addition of Republican Rep. Steve Knight (CA-25) and his Democratic ark-mate Rep. Marcy Kaptur from Ohio. Caucus co-founder Rep. Carlos Curbelo called the benchmark “evidence that there is a growing, diverse, and bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress ready to put petty politics aside and find meaningful solutions to the challenges posed by sea level rise and climate change. We have a responsibility to our constituents and future generations to present a united front to combat anti-climate policies and to have a productive, fact-based dialogue about market-oriented solutions, investments, and innovations that could mitigate the effects of climate change and make our nation more resilient.”
Watch his video statement below:
Check the membership to see if your lawmaker is a caucus member.
Evolution of a climate skeptic: Florida’s Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who shifted her position on climate change thanks to Curbelo and is now not only a member of the caucus, but an outspoken supporter of climate action, speaks to the Years of Living Dangerously about her change in thinking on the issue. Watch the four-minute video here.
‘Stop lying to the people’: Former California governor and terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger told fellow Republicans to “stop lying to the people” about climate change. “All great things happen when both parties work together,” he said. Schwarzenegger went off on President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. “America did not drop out of the Paris agreement. America is fully in the Paris agreement. The states and the cities in America, the private sector, the academic sector, the scientistseveryone is still in the Paris agreement. There’s only one man that dropped out. But America did not drop out.”
Climate jester: It was a unanimous vote this week. The jester is Texas lawmaker Rep. Lamar Smith. the chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, who wrote an op-ed extolling the positive impacts of climate change. “The use of fossil fuels and the byproducts of carbon enrichment play a large role in advancing the quality of human life by increasing food production to feed our growing population, stimulating the economy, and alleviating poverty,” he writes.
Keep plugging away, #ecoright and #ecoright allies.