The last five years have been the five warmest years for the planet in the modern era, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The years since 2001 have given us 18 of the 19 hottest years on record. These are eye-popping numbers.
The same day that joint NASA-NOAA report came out, something important happened on Capitol Hill that you almost certainly missed: Congressional Republicans acknowledged the reality of climate change in the first climate science hearing since 2013 in the House Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. Given the politics of the Green New Deal — or, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, “the green dream or whatever” — Republicans would be wise to enter the debate over what to do about climate change, rather than let the moment and the issue pass them by.
Unlike how so many characterize the partisan back-and-forth over climate, there was nary a “climate denier” to be found in that Environment and Climate Change subcommittee hearing. Instead, Republican after Republican made statements clearly acknowledging the reality of climate change and the role carbon emissions and industrial activity play as a driver of that change.
Ranking member John Shimkus, R-Ill., led off, declaring, “Climate change presents risks to our communities.” Next, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., noted, “Climate change is real. The need to protect the environment is real … Republicans on this committee are ready willing and able to have solutions oriented discussions.” Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia continued in his remarks: “Most Republicans and Democrats agree that the climate’s changing and that industrial activity is a major contributor to that.”
McKinley is right. This is all a far cry from standing on the floor of the Senate brandishing a snowball as proof that climate change is a hoax, and thank goodness.
This is not to say that Republicans and Democrats agree even remotely on what ought to be done about climate change. With dramatically different views about the appropriate role of government in general, and with divergent attitudes toward the private sector as a driver of innovation, acknowledgment of the scientific consensus is a long way away from agreement on solutions. But, this quiet shift on the part of congressional Republicans opens up an important door and allows them to put forward solutions of their own instead of sidestepping the issue entirely and hoping it goes away.
On an issue like climate change, party leadership matters. The reality is that most of us are not scientists; we rely on leaders who spend time in things like subcommittee hearings about complex policy topics to guide us. To the extent that Republican leaders are beginning to make statements like these, it can potentially shift public opinion among their fellow partisans. Back in the late 1990s, Republicans and Democrats were equally likely to say that the effects of global warming had already begun. By the start of the Obama administration, that figure had fallen among Republicans, even as it rose sharply for Democrats. Across the 2000s, the percent of Republicans who said climate change was man-made also fell.
But there’s no doubt that climate change will be a huge issue on the Democratic side of the aisle this year. Huge generational divides on the issue make it a critical one for millennial and Generation Z voters who play a big part in the Democratic primary and who ought to be a persuasion target for savvy Republicans. And as polling from earlier this year shows, voters in the suburbs look identical to voters in the cities when it comes to the seriousness of climate change as an issue, with 68 percent saying it is a serious problem that needs action. The path back to a Republican House majority runs right through those very suburbs.
Sitting out the issue of climate change will no longer be a tenable position. So, good for the congressional Republicans who are getting in the game. Instead of the “green dream or whatever,” they have a chance to propose a clean reality. And their voice has a chance to reshape the narrative around Republicans as “climate deniers” for the better.
[Also read: Exelon CEO prods FERC to get a grip on climate change]
