Oh, Yay, We're Saved - Politico Reports "Tonal Shift" Among GOP On Climate, Behind Closed Doors

[hatrack]

Republicans are beginning to feel the heat on climate change. Though a significant bloc of the party continues to deny the basic science of the issue, some senior Republicans are showing a willingness to consider incremental legislation to turbo-charge clean energy research funding, invest in greening buildings, support electric vehicle charging infrastructure and promote energy efficiency.

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And behind closed doors, Republicans are even more candid in acknowledging that action is needed, according to their Democratic colleagues. “I've had very constructive dinners, meetings, conversations with Republican senators who see the threat of climate change, who agree that we need to take action,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. “Since I first got here in 2010, virtually all the Republicans with whom I serve in the Senate have moved from denying that there is any change in our climate occurring, to questioning whether it’s caused by humanity, and then continuing to question whether we have any responsibility to do something about it, and whether we can do something about it without harming our own economy,” said Coons, a moderate who’s seen as one of the Senate’s top dealmakers.

Of course, President Donald Trump continues to fight aggressively to undo Obama-era regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. But other important GOP figures have softened their rhetoric on climate change and begun to embrace modest legislative efforts to combat the problem.

The tonal shift among some Republicans comes as a federal government report last fall warned of hundreds of billions of dollars in annual costs related to climate change by mid-century across every region of the country. And the United Nations last year warned the world must achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century to stave off the worst impacts from climate change. Amid the overwhelming scientific consensus and growing public demands for actions, some senior Republicans, like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have acknowledged that human activity is driving climate change. Other senior lawmakers have voiced support for more federal funding for clean energy research and other technologies like carbon capture and sequestration. Famed GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who famously pushed Republicans to cast doubt on the science of climate change in the 2000s, pointedly said last month: “I was wrong.”

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/22/climate-change-global-translations-1675710

[The Genealogist]

1. Wonder how many of them truly deny it, versus how many of them simply claim to

So as to appease their overlords in petroleum and other industries that only care about raking in the bucks. True denier or not, anyone who can do something about this crisis and doesn't is deplorable.

[Mike 03]

2. You'd think the Republicans with children might be more inclined to take action.

In my area (even though it's red) the kids my niece went to school with seem very aware of what's going on in our society, including global warming. That generation won't tolerate 'doing nothing'. Although anything the Republicans do will likely be slow walking, and in the best interest of profits.