Wildfires in Canada sweeping across the United States have worsened air quality, rendering it hazardous for people, and scientists believe that the situation is a result of climate change. Nevertheless, presidential candidates under the Republican Party have waved off the threat by rejecting regulations that could halt increasing temperatures.
As the most recent air quality registered one of the poorest ever recorded, with New York suffering the most, former Vice President Mike Pence, at a town hall meeting with CNN on Wednesday, termed climate change a threat that “radical environmentalists” have exaggerated.
The pattern that Republican officials acknowledge that climate change is real has changed from years of denial. However, they have refused to accept how serious the problem is or acknowledge the scientific consensus that, like all other countries, the United States must move quickly towards renewable energy in order to limit the preventable severe impacts.
Here is a look at where some of the major Republican candidates stand.
Donald J. Trump
As President, Trump stopped over 100 environmental policies aimed at lowering emissions that lead to global warming and safeguarding clean air and water. He appointed leaders who downplayed the impact of climate change, including Scott Pruitt as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, to which nearly every nation has agreed to try and cap the temperature increase at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Although President Biden reinstated the Paris Agreement and reversed Trump’s policies, the harm may not be reversible. Last year, a report from Yale and Columbia researchers found that Trump’s policies led to a decline in the United States’ environmental performance compared to other nations.
Trump has not shown a different approach in his bid for the second term. He continues to minimize the severity of climate change, sometimes coming up with false claims such as that the projected rise in sea levels is only 1/8 of an inch over 200-300 years. However, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the seas increase by that much annually.
Ron DeSantis
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis leads a state that has suffered due to climate change effects resulting in severe hurricanes as the Atlantic Ocean gets warmer.
However, DeSantis disregards climate change concerns by calling it “left-wing stuff”, as he said on Fox News last month. He added, “I’ve always rejected the politicization of the weather.”
He has taken several measures to strengthen the state against extreme storms and rising waters despite scientists supporting such adaptation programs because the climate has evolved past a point where even if emissions reduce aggressively, not all impacts are avoidable. Among the programs is the support of the Resilient Florida Program, which allocates millions of dollars to vulnerable communities to finance projects for instance developing sea walls and improving drainage systems.
But such measures won’t be enough since experts have already established that carbon capture technology to remove carbon from the air will be a valuable tool. Some Republicans, such as Nikki Haley, another presidential candidate, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, have backed the greater use of carbon capture. However, even though it’s a powerful tool, it may not be sufficient since it’s not cost-effective.
Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor, acknowledges that human activities cause climate change. However, she rejects most governmental efforts to reduce emissions, holding that “liberal ideas would cost trillions and destroy our economy.”
As America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Haley was involved in the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. However, she affirmed that “Just because we pulled out of the Paris accord doesn’t mean we don’t believe in climate protection” but later, the Trump administration rolled back climate protections in the following years.
Nevertheless, Haley has supported carbon capture technology to eliminate excess carbon from the air. This too has the backing of some Republicans, but since it’s expensive, most experts don’t consider it as a stand-alone solution.
Mike Pence
In acknowledging that climate change is real, Mike Pence falls short since he doesn’t accept the scientific consensus that human activity is the primary cause of climate change. While being the Vice President, he was party to a defiantly anti-climate Trump agenda that included the decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord, to which Pence defended, stating that Trump stood up for “America first.”
Pence’s political organization, Advancing American Freedom, has criticized “the left’s climate radicalism” and advocated against “climate mandates.” It called for expediting oil and gas leases and taking other steps to “unleash the full potential” of fossil fuel production in the United States.
Tim Scott
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina acknowledges that the environment is changing and that people contribute to climate change; hence he’s not living under a rock. However, he contradicts himself by opposing most policies that would lower carbon dioxide emissions. During the Trump era, he advocated against joining the Paris Accord and challenged a regulation that asks utilities to move away from using coal to adopt renewable energy such as wind and solar. Last year, he voted against President Biden’s expansive climate and health legislation that would invest $370 billion in spending and tax credits over the next decade into clean energy technologies.
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