Posted on 28 November 2020 by John Hartz

Editor's Choice

Republicans Remain Opposed to Any Policies That Would Reduce Fossil-Fuel Use

Photo: Barry Lewis/In Pictures via Getty Images

Last week, U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson laid out his plan for a “Green Industrial Revolution,” which is sort of British for “Green New Deal.” His plan calls for a ban on selling gas-powered vehicles starting in 2030, net-zero emissions by 2050, and billions in new green tech investments.

Environmentalists can, and do, question the specific choices in his blueprint. But a world in which the problem with the right-wing party’s climate stance is that it doesn’t move quickly enough in the right direction is so remote from the American imagination it may as well be taking place not on a different continent but on a different planet.

Back in the U.S., the relief of Donald Trump’s long good-bye will begin yielding to the stark reality that his party remains fundamentally pathological. No issue highlights this depressing reality more clearly than climate change.

For more than a decade, the GOP has stood alone among major right-of-center parties in industrialized democracies worldwide in its refusal to endorse climate science. But during the Trump era, the party’s rhetorical emphasis shifted. The major Republican point of agreement is now to insist on fossil-fuel use as an inherent good.

Click here to access the entire article as originally published on the New York Magazine website. 

Republicans Remain Opposed to Any Policies That Would Reduce Fossil-Fuel Use’ by Jonathan Chait, Intelligencer, New York Magazine, Nov 28, 2020

Articles Linked to on Facebook

Sun, Nov 22, 2020

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• What could a good green recovery plan actually look like?  by Fiona Harvey, Environment, The Guardian, Nov 17, 2020
• Charleston weighs wall as seas rise and storms strengthen by Michelle Liu, AP/The State (Columbia, SC), Nov 22, 2020
• Wealthy coastal residents remove illegal seawalls. But dispute rages as seas rise by Sammy Fretwell, The Sate (Columbia, SC) Nov 20, 2020

Mon, Nov 23, 2020

• Warm Arctic, Cold Continents? It Sounds Counterintuitive, but Research Suggests it’s a Thing by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Nov 22, 2020
• We Need a National Institute of Climate Change and Health, Opinion by Howard Frumkin & Richard J. Jackson, Scientific American, Nov 22, 2020
• Covid-19 Shutdowns Were Just a Blip in the Upward Trajectory of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News, Nov 23, 2020
• Western Green Hydrogen Makeover Clouds Fossil Energy Revival by Tina Casey, Clean Tehnica, Nov 23, 2020

Tue, Nov 24, 2020

• 5 things you need to know about how climate change will affect Indiana's drinking water by London Gibson, Environment, Indianapolis Star, Nov 23, 2020
• “We” creatures of the earth: Ethical reflections on Australia’s fires by Raimond Gaita, Religion & Ethics, ABC (AU), Nov 23, 2020
• Can shearing of Thwaites glacier slow or stop if humans control greenhouse gas emissions? by Peter Sinclair, Video, Yale Climate Connections, Nov 2, 2020
• An expert's advice on talking to the climate skeptic in your life, Opinion by John D. Sutter, CNN, Nov 24, 2020

Wed, Nov 25, 2020

• Carbon Out of the Sky by Robinson Meyer, The Weekly Planet, Atlantic Magazine, Nov 24, 2020
• This ‘Sun Machine’ Could Be A New Renewable Energy Source by Andrea D. Steffen, Intelligent Living, Nov 23, 2020
• An ancient people with a modern climate plan by Jim Morrison, Climate Solutions, Washington Post, Nov 24, 2020
• Making sense of your climate-denying cranky uncle by John Cook, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nov 25, 2020

Thu, Nov 26, 2020

• Biden links climate change to national security as he taps John Kerry for climate czar role by Jess Bidgood, Boston Glove, Nov 24, 2020
• EU drafts deal to upgrade 2030 climate change target next month by Kate Abnett, Reuters, Nov 25, 2020
• Forest therapy reawakens human connection to the natural world by Barbara Fraser, Spirituality Earth Beat, Nov 26, 2020
• How Banks Could Bail Us Out of the Climate Crisis by Bill McKibben, Annals of a Warming Planet, The New Yorker Magazine, Nov 25, 2020

Fri, Nov 27, 2020

• Confusion main reason Europeans and Americans underestimate impact of climate crisis by Martin Banks, Environment, EU Today, Nov 25, 2020
• The perils of counter-intuitive design in IPCC graphics, Guest Post by Karlijn van den Broek, Carbon Brief, Nov 26, 2020
• Battered by back-to-back hurricanes, Honduras braces for a long recovery by Delphine Schrank, Americas, Washington Post, Nov 26, 2020
• Native American Heritage Day and Month: November offers national platform to talk about Indigenous culture and tradition by Shondiin Silversmith, Nation, Arizona Republic/USA Today, Nov 27, 2020
• When Autumn Leaves Begin to Fall: As the Climate Warms, Leaves on Some Trees are Dying Earlier by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Nov 26, 2020

Sat, Nov 28, 2020

• EU urged to address aviation’s full climate impact, including non-CO2 emissions by Chloé Farand, Climate Home, Nov 26, 2020
• The glaring problem with Canada’s solar sector and how to fix it by Leigh Matthews, Features, Canada's National Observer, Nov 27, 2020
• Republicans Remain Opposed to Any Policies That Would Reduce Fossil-Fuel Use’ by Jonathan Chait, Intelligencer New York Magazine, Nov 28, 2020
• As Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry Will Be No Stranger to International Climate Negotiations by Phil McKenna, InsideClimate News, Nov 25, 2020