With an increasing percentage of the electorate, especially younger voters, identifying climate as a top issue, progressives have vowed to pass major climate legislation as quickly as possible. They have lost sight, however, of the fact that climate action is a marathon, not a sprint.
Late last week, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin confirmed what many of us already knew: He would not support a reconciliation bill with significant climate provisions in this Congress. The news sparked an outcry from Democrats, journalists, and climate activists, who are now demanding that President Joe Biden declare a climate emergency as our best, last chance for meaningful climate action. If not, they say, the United States will be woefully behind on our climate goals.
Thankfully, they are wrong.
You may remember a classic story from your childhood. A tortoise and hare line up for a race as other forest animals look on. Flashy, bold, and confident, the hare expects to win in a landslide. The race kicks off, and the hare darts quickly out of sight as the tortoise plods along. After some time, the hare glances back and determines that the tortoise is far enough behind to allow for a short rest. To the surprise of everyone but the tortoise, overconfidence gets the best of the hare, who falls asleep. The tortoise, slowly and steadily marching to the finish line, wins the race.
As most fables do, this tale conveys a moral principle by teaching us a lesson, one that handily applies to our climate approach. Climate-minded progressives are easily won over by sweeping legislative recommendations and boastful rhetoric presented by the Left. Unfortunately, these proposals often aim to impress an audience rather than finish the race.
When Democrats took the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2021, the Left rejoiced at the opportunity to impose a “climate mandate.” An enormous climate bill seemed to be not only a priority but a guarantee.
Yet overconfidence is just as detrimental to Democrats as it was for the hare. Division within the Senate conference killed the Build Back Better plan, and as of Thursday, reconciliation is dead in the water. For decades, Democrats have been unable to deliver on climate promises.
In contrast to their Democratic counterparts, Republicans have steadily made steps toward sound environmental policy. Even now, the Energy, Conservation, and Climate Task Force, led by Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), is rolling out an approach to climate and energy issues. Bills such as the Growing Climate Solutions Act, the Save Our Sequoias Act, and the Carbon Sequestration Collaboration Act all have significant Republican support and would strengthen our response to climate change.
On their own, these bills will not solve climate change, but they don’t claim to. Instead, their effectiveness is in recognizing there are no silver bullets to climate change, but we can move forward on parts of climate policy where there is broad agreement.
It’s common in the climate space for activists to argue against incrementalism in the name of urgency. They are quick to chastise modest proposals, both refusing to support and actively undermining these measures for not going “far enough.” But this all-or-nothing approach inevitably leads to stagnation. When time is of the essence, as it is for climate change, some action is better than no action. After all, the tortoise caught up to and defeated the hare one step at a time.
Radical policy may have been off to a running start, but it’s an incremental approach that has put one foot after another to build a foundation for a sustainable climate future.
We will achieve climate progress not through Herculean vows, unattainable pledges, or unpassable packages but through meaningful legislation. Durable, bipartisan policy is possible, meaning that Democrats’ ambition and Republicans’ efficient approach can actually complement each other legislatively. We saw this in action during the 116th Congress with the passage of significant legislation such as the Energy Act of 2020, and we can do this work again.
“The Tortoise and the Hare” teaches children an important lesson about the pitfalls of ego versus deliberate hard work. While ambitious climate proposals may hypothetically bring us leaps and bounds closer to reaching our climate goals, their success must be measured by whether or not they cross the finish line. In that endeavor, extreme partisanship and hubris won’t do.
Danielle Butcher (@DaniSButcher) is the executive vice president at the American Conservation Coalition.
