The Politicization of Climate Change

Environmental priorities point of contention between major parties

Jane Clark, Opinions Editor, and Zoya Haq, Co-Arts & Life Editor

Over the past decade, climate change has joined immigration, healthcare and gun control rights on the ever-growing list of hyper-partisan American issues. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change announced that climate change’s damage will become irreversible by 2030, this global issue has redefined American legislative priorities, shaping the presidential terms of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Youth Activism Republicans

Although most student organizations combating climate change affiliate themselves with the political left, one pioneering conservative climate organization is the American Conservation Coalition. Entrepreneur and youth activist Benji Backer started the ACC while a student at the University of Washington as a “limited-government, free-market environmental group that believes we need to act now to find solutions.”

Karly Matthews, the group’s communications director, said ACC allows young conservatives to enter the fight for climate action, one they are often excluded from.

“I was motivated to join ACC as a lifelong conservative [who] wanted to productively engage in environmental conversations,” Matthews said. “I was tired of the – admittedly deserved, at times – ‘climate denier’ label.”

Matthews added the politicization of climate change makes it harder for both Democrats and Republicans to join together and approach the issue from a solution-oriented mindset.

“Climate change has become a political wedge issue between the two major political parties in the United States, but I truly don’t believe it should be,” Matthews said. “We all share our natural environment and should be united in our desire to protect it for future generations.”

ACC’s approach to climate activism synthesizes education and action. Its Market Environmentalism Academy introduces young conservatives to market-based environmental solutions; after engaging in a set of online courses, these students can then interact with their local ACC branches via community cleanups, speaking engagements and educational film screenings. Democrats

A Yale study shows 87% of Democrats who are Millennials or younger support climate activism that urges elected officials to reduce global warming.

American activists like Jamie Margolin, founder of youth organization Zero Hour, and Isra Hirsi, co-founder of the US Youth Climate Strike, are left-leaning upstanders in the fight against climate change.

According to the Zero Hour website, Margolin co-founded the organization with fellow student activists Nadia Nazar, Madelaine Tew and Zanagee Artis. As a group, they “realized that a national day of mass action, led by youth, would be an ideal platform to ensure that young voices were not only centered in this conversation, but that elected officials and adults would hear their voices loud and clear!”

With a similar hope — to introduce young voices to the climate fight — student activist Isra Hirsi organized hundreds of youth climate strikes during the spring of 2019. Inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Isra and two other students,

Haven Coleman and Alexandria Villasenor, wanted to make an impact on their surrounding communities by rallying in united change.

The daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Hirsi fostered a passion for climate activism from a young age, joining her school’s Environmental Club at 14 and co-organizing the Climate Strikes at 16. The Science of Climate Change Republicans

According to the Pew Research Center, 9% of Republicans believe climate scientists understand climate research and are providing accurate information on it to the public.

A 2021 CAP study found that 139 representatives and senators in the 117th Congress deny the existence of human-generated climate change. Fifty-two percent of House Republicans and 60% of Senate Republicans comprise this group, almost 25% of Congress.

Former President Donald Trump’s views on climate change reflect those of his party’s leadership.

“Global warming is based on faulty science and manipulated data,” Trump said in 2012. He further elaborated his climate stance in 2015, saying, “I’m not a believer in man-made global warming. It is going to start to cool at some point.” Democrats

Eighty-four percent of liberal Democrats believe human activity contributes greatly to climate change, according to a Pew Research Center study. The key candidates who ran for the Democratic presidential ticket in 2020 — Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and current President Joe Biden, to name a few — noted climate change among their top policy priorities.

Biden is placing climate regulation at the top of his policy agenda. In an April 2021 statement, he announced America will aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions to half of 2005’s levels by 2030.

“Climate change is the existential threat to humanity,” Biden said. “The science behind it is not a hoax.” The Paris Climate Agreement The Trump Administration

Trump stated his intention to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement in his 2016 platform, and followed up by announcing the withdrawal of the United States on June 1, 2017.

“This includes ending the implementation of the nationally determined contribution and, very importantly, the Green Climate Fund, which is costing the United States a vast fortune,” Trump said that day at the White House.

He said according to the National Economic Research Associates, compliance with the agreement could cost America 2.7 million jobs by 2025.

“This includes 440,000 fewer manufacturing jobs which is not what we need,” Trump said.

Economist Marc Hafstead of Resources for the Future said if economic growth picks up, the United States’ leaving the Paris deal could mean overall U.S. emissions drop only by 10%, while the track the United States was on before the withdrawal would be 15% to 17%.

The Biden Administration

After Biden declared his intention to reenter the Paris Climate Agreement Jan. 20, 2021, the United States formally rejoined Feb. 19.

Biden signed an executive order initiating a 30-day process to reenter the pact hours after taking office. By rejoining the agreement, the United States plans to increase efforts to advance clean energy to adhere to Paris Climate Agreement goals in curbing climate change.

Biden’s plan is to rally international leaders and cut emissions even more than the goals under the Paris Agreement. Biden and Harris have said they intend to support climate justice and the clean energy economy. Texas Republicans

Led by Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Republicans are embarking on a campaign against “green energy,” arguing for the continuance of oil- and gas-based energy to support Texans in those industries.

With the influence of fossil fuels in the state economy, Texas politicians have opposed federal- and state-level environmental regulations.

After Biden’s January executive order to cease oil and gas leasing on federal land, Abbott vowed to sue the federal government for threatening Texas’ natural industries.

“We’re here for a singular purpose today,” Abbott said in January, “to make clear that Texas is going to protect the oil and gas industry from any type of hostile attack launched from Washington, D.C.”

In November, COP26, one of the largest climate conferences in the world, was held in Scotland. While Gov. Abbott received an invitation, he decided not to attend, leaving Texas unrepresented at the global event. Democrats

In February 2021, Texas House Democrats launched a climate, environment and energy caucus aiming to bring conversations surrounding climate change to the legislature. This is the first environment-focused caucus in the Texas Legislature’s history.

State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) said while Texas Democrats disagreed on many of the goals of the caucus, one universal goal rang clear.

“We want the legislature to be led by science on this issue,” Anchia said.

According to state Rep. Erin Zwiener, some Republicans were invited to join the caucus, but declined; because of the economic influence of the oil and gas industries, climate change has become a party line issue in the Texas Legislature.