Episode 20: Conservatism and Climate Change with Bob Inglis (Republic(E)n)

Learn more about environmental law and policy here!

Episode Intro Notes

What we’ll cover

• What is conservatism?

• Fast facts on climate change

• Combining the two - Conservatives & Climate - Not an oxymoron!

• About RepublicEn and Bob Inglis

What is conservatism?

What principles is it based upon?

• According to the Heritage Foundation, a Conservative thinktank, conservatism is based upon the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.

• In Jonah Goldberg’s essay in the National Review (a magazine and website for conservative news, commentary, and opinion) titled “When we say ‘Conservative’ we mean…” he says conservatives champion the idea enshrined in our founding document that we have an individual right to pursue happiness.

• In other words, conservatives believe the collective good is best served through individual freedom. Where government is small, individual liberty is big.

Ok, so that’s conservativism. What do liberals believe?

• I scoured the internet for the liberal analog to the Heritage Foundation that would proudly proclaim we are staunch liberals and we believe this, this, this, and most definitely this. I could not find such a think tank. The Center for American Progress, often seen as the voice of the Obama Administration, says it is made up of progressives but also says it is “an independent nonpartisan policy institute.”

• According to Merriam Webster, our general sense is that liberals believe a philosophy that considers government as a crucial instrument for amelioration of social inequities (such as those involving race, gender, or class)

• Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems. The state being an active force in society can make individuals better off.

Fast facts on climate change

It’s getting hot in here (so Jay do not take off all your clothes)

• January 2017 was the third highest for January in the 1880–2017 record, behind 2016 (highest) and 2007 (second highest).

• The extent of sea ice this winter has been way below average and the lowest since records started being kept in 1979.

• There is a little over 400 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere right now. Using ice cores, we know the level of CO2 going back 800,000 years and using sea sediments we can go back two million years. In none of those records was the atmospheric concentration of CO2 at this level. To get to the current amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, you need to go back about 20 million years ago when the temperature was 3 to 6 degrees warmer and the sea levels 25 to 40 meters higher.

The impacts of climate change include:

• An increase in extreme weather

• Increased risk of respiratory stress from poor air quality

• Damage to infrastructure from sea level rise, storm surge, and heavy downpours

• Decrease in surface and groundwater supplies

• Increase in ocean acidity

• Increased species endangerment and extinction

Combining the two - Conservatives & Climate – Not an oxymoron!

Conservatives have been behind some of our largest environmental achievements

A republican president, Richard Nixon, signed the Clean Air Act and established both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He may have done it because public opinion polls showed greater concern in the environment, there was more pollution following the intense increase in industrial output after WWII, and he wanted to keep up with his potential democratic opponents in the next election who were championing environmental issues. Still, he vowed in his 1970 State of the Union address to present Congress with the “most comprehensive and costly program of pollution control in America’s history” (apparently the costliness of the regulatory program was considered a selling point…), and the Clean Air Act of 1970 was passed with one nay vote in the House and no nay votes in the Senate.

Even George H.W. Bush launched the aid rain training program and Ronald Reagan signed the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer.

So why now is there such opposition from conservatives to take action against climate change?

• Some Conservatives frame it as addressing climate versus economic growth. If the government comes in and demands unrealistic cuts in greenhouse gases, that will harm industries that provide a lot of jobs.

• Climate action is at the bottom of the priority list of many conservatives after strengthening the economy, military, etc. A poll from the Yale Climate Change Communication Center found that liberal and moderate Republicans list climate change near the bottom, at 21st of 23 important issues. Conservative Republicans rank it last. All republicans had the same top four: the economy, terrorism, federal budget deficit, and immigration reform.

• Fossil fuel and industry lobbying may be playing a part. One 2016 report found that major fossil fuel companies spend $115 million a year to oppose efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

• Some don’t think the science is settled that it is happening or to what extent humans are contributing to it. In one analysis of the last Congress, it was found that 56% of Republicans deny or question the science behind human-caused climate change.

About RepublicEn and Bob Inglis

What is RepublicEn?

From their website: “We are 2350 Americans educating the country about free-enterprise solutions to climate change.” Essentially they are conservatives and libertarians who believe in free enterprise solutions to solve climate change. They are against “ineffective subsidies and regulation.”

The organization is based on four major pillars:

1. Limited government

2. Accountability

3. Free enterprise

4. Environmental stewardship

Why are they important?

Republic(en) is an important group because it shows there are conservatives that are climate realists and provides a space in which conservatives can speak out about the reality of climate change in tandem with other conservatives.

What climate change solutions are they promoting?

RepublicEn promotes first eliminating subsidies for all fuels and then implementing a revenue-neutral border adjustable carbon tax that compels our trading partners to enact their own emission reduction systems (in other words, put a carbon tax at the border on goods that come from countries without carbon controls so that they don’t get a price advantage). Why?

• Reports vary but both the fossil fuel industry and the renewables industry get billions each year from the US government

• “A free enterprise solution to climate change makes fossil fuels fully accountable for the costs they bring upon society.”

• Carbon fee and dividend. Basically put a price on carbon and then redistribute the money raised to the people to minimize the impact of any price increases.

• Price signals are more powerful than regulation and will lead to quicker results thanks to the free market.

Who is Bob Inglis?

• Founder of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University (July 2012) and its executive director.

• For his work on climate change Inglis was given the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

• Bob was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1992, having never run for office before. He represented Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, from 1993-1998. In 2004, he was re-elected to Congress and served until losing re-election in the South Carolina Republican primary of 2010. (15) The 2010 elections showed the power of the tea party with republicans gaining many seats in Congress and many of those seats being filled by more extreme voices.

• He gives three steps to making change in the legislative process: get someone excited, pick the right timing, and prepare for the long haul.