Republican Presidential Candidates on Climate
Republican Presidential Candidates on Climate
As the Republican presidential candidates barrel toward their first debate under the shadow of a front-runner facing dozens of felony charges, The New York Times examined their stances on seven key issues.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/1514949
I wouldn't consider voting for any of these people in the general election, but I recognize that people often live in gerrymandered districts, and therefore vote in Republican primaries in order to have some influence over their local representatives. For people living in such a district, choosing a least-bad candidate is a way try and moderate the Republican party just a bit.
Candidates are listed by poll-based estimates of their support, which makes it rather clear that Republicans as a whole have sought to reject any kind of meaningful path to zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump: His actions as president may have caused irreversible damage to the global climate.
DeSantis: He has supported efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change, but not to prevent it.
Scott: He acknowledges climate change but rejects most efforts to stop it.
Ramaswamy: He opposes all government efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
Haley: She supports carbon-capture technology but has denounced efforts to reduce emissions.)
Pence: He claims climate change is exaggerated and would prioritize domestic energy production.
Christie: He supports action on climate change with some caveats.
Hutchinson: He denounces government mandates but supports private renewable energy development.
Burgum: He has supported carbon-capture as governor, but what he would do as president is unclear.
Hurd: He acknowledges that climate change is a major threat, but what he would do is unclear.
Suarez: He has pursued significant emission reductions in Miami.
Its insane given the last few years that the staunches deniers have not faced reality. My devil. The fires, the ice thinning, the hurricanes, the tonadoes, the heat waves, the floods...
Nothing will change so long as capitalists hold all of the political power and put their profits over the health of the planet and of humanity.
If you think voting for any of these ghouls will do anything to help you've lost the plot. Never vote for the fascists.
Most of the US has a partisan primary, where each party chooses candidates. Due to gerrymandering, one party or the other is pretty much guaranteed to win the general election fir state legislative seats and the house of representatives. So people in those places who want any influence at all vote in the primary for the party which will win the general election.
This post is for them
Dude, then why are you talking about PRESIDENTIAL candidates? Shouldn't this be about congressional or state candidates?
Gerrymandering's only effect on presidential elections is on the rules that each state uses for the elections, not on who's guaranteed to win the election.
Further, none of the Republicans are going to be helpful at all in stopping or reducing the impacts of climate change. This is not helpful. Any encouragement to vote for fascists is doing the enemy's work for them.
You listed them in a different order from how they appear in the link preview and it's messing with my mind maaannnnnnn
I think focusing on climate change directly is not the right approach with Republicans. To them it's a culture war discussion, so they'll always point to the most extreme view to strawman their arguments.
I think it's far more interesting to discuss practical solutions that would help improve GPD generally, such as:
- invest in high speed rail - trains are way more efficient than airplanes, both from a cost and emissions perspective; which of these would be interested in an effort to connect busy metro areas with high speed rail? (e.g. Miami <-> Atlanta via Orlando and Jacksonville, SF <-> LA, large metros in Texas, etc)
- invest in nuclear power - we need more energy production, we have a ton of space for disposal of nuclear waste, and it's a cost effective solution
- implement a carbon tax and refund it to Americans as a credit - this merely increases the costs of polluting products to encourage purchase of greener products
These target the biggest sources of pollution, transportation, energy, and industry, but without directly changing regulations or restricting anyone's freedom, it just makes some choices more expensive.
Action with a lot of caveats is the best call for the average citizen. Christie has it right. The caveats must protect the American taxpayer, all levels of the middle and working classes lifestyles, maintain our current energy needs, allow us to continue to enjoy our lives and of course not raise energy costs. If they can get all that done and it’s transparent then great. Go for it. But, people that worked hard to own a moderately nice home with some property are not giving it up due to some green sales pitch. We don’t want to be forced to drive junk EVs. We don’t want to shut the AC off in the middle of summer. We like our gas stoves. Stuff like that. Hands off.
Gas stoves and vehicles are outdated, dirty technology that will die out on their own, no reason not to speed that up. Just because people are stubborn and don't like change, isnt a good reason to keep them.
Gas stoves aren't particularly dirty, and they make a ton of sense if you use gas for heat, which is quite efficient.
Home heating and cooking are very low on the list of carbon emissions, especially if you remove wood stoves (which should be obsolete outside of extremely remote areas).
The focus should be on the higher contributors to emissions:
- 28% - transportation
- 25% - electric power
- 23% - industry
Transportation
The market is already moving toward EVs, so I don't think the government needs to do anything there. In fact, I'm in favor of removing subsidies and credits since the industry is already well established.
The focus here should be on improving mass transit so we don't need as many cars on the road in the first place. The last people to upgrade to EVs will be the first people to switch to mass transit if it worked for them, meaning the working class. So I think we should be expanding our rail infrastructure and building out high speed rail between popular destinations (e.g. SF <-> LA, LA <-> LV, Orlando <-> Miami, etc), light rail inside of cities, and forcing cars around busy centers serviced by mass transit (e.g. like the Dutch model that makes driving less convenient than the train/bikes, but still feasible).
Electric Power
We generate ~20% from coal and ~40% from natural gas, and areas that use coal generate a very high percentage (my area is >50%). So the focus should be on expanding nuclear power, especially in the middle of the country where there's plenty of space to dispose of nuclear waste and limited risk of natural disasters risking damaging the reactors (e.g. seismic activity, tornados are a concern, but other power plants deal with it).
We're going to see EV demand increase, so we definitely need to be investing in infrastructure today.
Industry
We should create a carbon tax and return that as a tax credit to the American public. This increases the costs of polluting goods relative to greener goods in such a way that companies will be motivated to reduce emissions so their costs are lower. I don't know that this looks like exactly, but I think it should approximate the cost to clean up those emissions. This should replace carbon credits.
I think each of these solutions is conservative friendly and moves us in a positive direction. The main thrust here is to nudge people toward better choices, not to ban poor choices.
Petrol vehicles arent outdated, LOL. They are very necessary for a multitude of reasons. Recently, even the CEO of Ford struggled mightily on a recent trip with an EV pickup. EVs are fine for quick errands, for driving to work/school, etc. They suck as recreational vehicles, sports cars, larger volume transport and various other things. Evs can co-exist with ICE vehicles. Thats the best were gonna do. Oh and BTW - we can NOT supply the electricity needed to charge a full fleet of EVs anyways. Just forget it.
Gas stoves are still preferred by many people and thats their right. They are not outdated either. While I own an electric stove, I dont have any problem with people choosing gas. What happens when the power goes out and we all have electric furnaces & stoves? Oops. That sucks.
can you please link some valid sources that state your internal combustion engine, gas stove, and property are under remarkable threat of confiscation due to green policies?
