Former GOP Congresswoman Nan Hayworth, who represented the 19th district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives, vows to continue to fight the “headwinds” within the Republican party to make progress on environmental issues such as climate change, but pointed to a politicized system as an obstacle.
“My former colleagues understand the importance of protecting the environment,” she said. “But one of the problems is the political opposition from environmental groups and the left is so extreme in some cases, even when they try to move toward environmental points of view, they get no credit for it politically.”
Hayworth, who sits on the advisory board of the eco-right organization ConservAmerica, said she’d “like to hear Donald Trump say: ‘Let’s resolve to be great stewards of our planet, let’s take science seriously, let’s reduce consumptions and emissions.'” The GOP presidential nominee has repeatedly called climate change a hoax.
“The default position should really be that even if you are skeptical about the climate change, let’s minimize our carbon footprint and our pollution anyway,” Hayworth said.