Thursday, October 18, 2007

Republican global warming denial begins to melt

One sad trend in recent years has been the partisan divide on climate change. Seemingly it has become important for Republicans to insist that global warming isn't happening, or isn't caused by people. On the other side of the aisle, Democrats wave the flag over global warming.

The partisan divide on global warming seems to be melting, according to an article in the New York Times. Republican presidential contenders are beginning to acknowledge the reality of human-caused global warming.

One interesting development is a religious flavor to some of the right-wing support for battling climate change (from the NY Times article):

Two candidates appealing to religious conservatives, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, call for strong actions to ease the effects of people on the climate, at times casting the effort in spiritual terms just as some evangelical groups have taken up the cause.

Thankfully, the need for action on climate change seems to be losing some of the partisan rancor that has hindered progress. Conservation and environmental protection need not be partisan issues, and here's another demonstration of that important truth.

What's driving this conversion? One comment from the NY Times is that "The issue had been gradually bubbling up among leading Republicans as top corporations, including some in petroleum, have been pushing to address it."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The supporters of National No Driving Day, March 8, 2008
http://www.NationalNoDrivingDay.com
would like to have a serious conversation with any Republican that feels the need to deny global warming. Joseph Daniels