Some Mondays mornings take longer than others to wade through the climate change news articles/essays that ran over the weekend. Today was one of those daysand I promise I wasn’t distracted by Super Bowl reports since my team fell apart in the 4th quarter so the season is over and I don’t care.
From the Los Angeles Daily News, former California Republican Party staffer Matt Fleming published an op-ed: Republicans are right to come around on climate. “Some voters think the notion of a climate change crisis is at best alarmist and at worst a hoax. But judging by science and public perception, these people are in the minority,” he writes. “When the vast majority of voters are convinced something is happening, responding with ‘It’s a hoax’ is not a good way to make friends. This is particularly an issue with younger voters, who think this issue is important and already don’t think very highly of Republicans. Only a quarter of likely voters between 18 and 44 have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party. As [House Minority Leader Kevin] McCarthy and others have recognized, Republicans need to win over younger voters if they want to win elections in the near future.”
From the midwest, the editorial board at the Wisconsin State Journal highlighted nearby Indiana’s Sen. Mike Braun and his conservative climate leadership. “U.S. Sen. Mike Braun’s call for climate solutions is encouraging and badly needed from the GOP. And it should prompt other Republican senators including Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson of Oshkosh to help cut greenhouse gas emissions,” they write. “Braun is right. America and the world need to put a price on carbon pollution so the shift to clean energy intensifies. Like Wisconsin, Indiana gets most of its electricity from fossil fuels, especially coal. Yet Braun has repeatedly and impressively emphasized the need to deal with the enormous climate challenge. Rising temperatures are making the Midwest warmer and wetter threatening key sectors of the economy, especially agriculture.”
And lastly, the other piece that caught my eye: GOP bill will seek to commit U.S. to planting 3.3 billion trees annually (The Hill). Much has been reported on these pages about the part of the GOP climate plan that involves planting more trees. I love trees. Trees are awesome and we need more of them. But using trees to solve climate change “has not been a winner with climate scientists…who say that while trees undoubtedly improve the environment, the globe won’t be able to plant its way out of a climate crisis.” Read more!