While the apocalyptic rhetoric and the collectivist approach to the environment from the Left are unhelpful, Republicans cannot keep ignoring the issue for much longer. A truly conservative approach to environmentalism does not mean doing nothing. Instead, the Right needs to work on finding market-based solutions to climate change.

Conservatives should be careful not to fall into the climate alarmism that has consumed the Democratic Party, but they also cannot continue to deny the fact that the climate is changing and that human activities are at least partially responsible. Their “do-nothing” attitude is not only environmentally unsustainable, but it is electorally unsustainable. Climate change is consistently ranked as one of the top issues for young voters, and total ignorance will spell long-term troubles for the GOP.