LookTo Ron DeAthsentence As The GOP Model On Climate - Talk About It A Bunch, Do Jack-Shit
EDIT
Because DeSantis has behaved in such a way as to be awarded a “D” grade by the Sierra Club, as opposed to Donald Trump’s “F”s, the political press has occasionally made him out to be some sort of environmentalist. “Under Gov. DeSantis, Florida’s story on the climate crisis is starting a new chapter,” the Sun Sentinel editorial board wrote in May 2019. In reality, DeSantis represents a reactive, Band-Aid approach to the climate crisis, rather than serious, proactive, and collective action. He’s supported some “mitigation” efforts, some green infrastructure investment and public land protection here and there, but ultimately no emissions-reduction commitments. In some cases, he’s supported emissions increases.
DeSantis’s potential general election opponents for 2022 have promised to make climate a central focus of their campaigns. “Florida deserves better and somebody who has a greater focus on the environment all the time instead of just some of the time,” former GOP governor turned Democratic Party Congressman Charlie Crist told a reporter in mid-April.
Crist, who served as Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2011, was seen as environmentally friendly—though we know from the way DeSantis has been covered that standards are low. A believer in “market-based solutions” to the climate crisis, Crist as governor enacted emissions-reduction legislation, as well as various environmental regulations and standards. Recently, Crist introduced carbon-pricing legislation in Congress that would supposedly cut “U.S. carbon pollution by up to 45 percent by 2030, with a net-zero target by 2050.” Given that the legislation is supported by the American Petroleum Institute, which praises the bill’s “middle ground” approach, many environmentalists question the bill’s seriousness.
EDIT
For many, climate is an important but ultimately laundry-listed issue that can be dealt with in the abstract future; thus one can see the appeal of political rhetoric built around the notion that “climate change is real and human-made, but we must first consider the economy!” This is precisely the approach politicians like DeSantis and Morrison are taking—and the one we can expect from many conservatives and centrists going forward. The 2022 Florida governor’s race may show us the future of American climate politics, absent a strong countervailing narrative from the left: Even with the climate crisis getting more coverage than ever before, there will be limits, as seen in Australia, to what politicians are willing to do about it. What’s long been needed is dramatic, sweeping action; the plans proposed by politicians like DeSantis and Charlie Crist fall short of that.
EDIT/END
https://newrepublic.com/article/162582/ron-desantis-climate-friendly-republicans