The GOP falls painfully short on environmental issues, at the expense of their electoral prospects and their constituents
Devastation from last month’s Hurricane Helene. / Photo credit: Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images.
By Chloe Hunt
Tracking Hurricane Milton in Florida, I couldn’t help but become teary-eyed hearing famed meteorologist John Morales’ emotional coverage of the life-threatening storm. In this brief segment, Morales discussed how climate change is bringing, and will continue to bring, more deadly, catastrophic weather events that threaten the livelihoods of millions around the world. “I apologize,” he said. “This is just horrific.”
Needless to say, the science is there—Morales’ claim holds true. As the climate warms, hurricanes are growing in intensity, and if we fail to take care of our planet from a policy-driven perspective, Americans will suffer the consequences.
As a former strong liberal turned conservative-leaning centrist, I have found myself constantly toggling between parties on certain issues and feeling lost this election season more than ever. In light of so much polarizing partisan rhetoric from both our presidential candidates, I’ve searched for issues that connect us based on our shared humanity. The issue that should unite us right now is the climate.
However, the Republican Party, across the board, has failed to recognize both the legitimacy and, frankly, the severity of climate change, with most party members not considering this to be a major issue. This failure will not only hurt Republicans at the polls, but it hurts the party’s image overall and prevents necessary action on a real, existential threat.
According to the Pew Research Center, Democrats and Republicans are diverging even further on this issue than years past. Only one in four Republicans consider climate change a “major threat,” a number that has not significantly changed in 10 years, despite years-long, damning evidence of a warming planet.
Disappointed by the Biden-Harris Administration’s lackluster four years, many politically-unaffiliated Americans concerned about climate change are hoping for a new political future, one that I’m not sure anyone on a state or national-level ticket promises.
Former President Donald Trump continues to hurt the Republican Party with comments that dismiss climate change as a threat, most recently calling the issue “one of the greatest scams of all time.” As the Party’s voice, he completely avoids a moderate, bipartisan political agenda on climate change. Certainly, average Americans are preoccupied with other issues, leading Republican officials, Trump included, to emphasize other political points, such as staggering inflation.
Nonetheless, a temperate, grounded climate change policy agenda by Republicans could outshine the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate efforts, which have involved tagging climate change onto a wide host of other progressive policy initiatives.
The costly policy that the Biden-Harris Administration touts as one of its greatest climate change accomplishments was the barely bipartisan Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021. However, the accomplishments of this law are severely limited. In fact, my home state, Virginia, has yet to see any money from this legislation. Rural communities in my state require significant infrastructure changes to survive the incoming, perennial challenges faced by climate change and have not seen any support from this $42 billion dollar law.
Anecdotally, climate change’s impending devastation will wreck Virginia, and other rural states’ agricultural systems. In this arena, Republican policy makers have an opportunity to support the rural, working class Americans that the party claims to support by tackling climate change. However, like most states, the only Governors who have tried to actively pursue climate change policy and research have been Democrats.
Republicans must take note of how climate change continues to impact struggling homeowners. In a message actually set forth by Vice President Harris in the Presidential debate, homeowners’ insurance coverage is dwindling, and in locations already ravaged by climate change-induced weather events, homeowners can’t get coverage. This is just one of the issues surrounding the climate change crisis Republicans must take up and stop ignoring, before it’s too late.
Despite former President Trump’s alienating, dismissive remarks on climate change, more tempered Republican lawmakers have a crucial duty to protect Americans from climate change and advocate for smart, bipartisan policy that supports the climate and Americans’ pocketbooks. Republican lawmakers must acknowledge the humanity in climate change before the climate crisis devastates the constituents that Republicans strive to support.
Chloe Hunt is a senior in the College studying Creative Writing, Hispanic Studies, and Political Science from Roanoke, VA. Chloe is also the News Editor for The Pennsylvania Post. She is currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will be back on campus in the spring. Her email is chloemwh@sas.upenn.edu.
