Democrats and Republicans alike need to put partisan politics aside to address climate change

I am a 17-year-old Republican and I want to do something about climate change. I am ready to put partisan politics aside in order to address the defining issue of my generation.

Indeed, I recognize that rising sea levels are drowning island nations, that one billion of my peers could become climate refugees by 2050, and that CO2 levels have reached 415 parts per million for the first time in human history.

Nevertheless, I only really began to care about climate change when I recognized the tangible impacts close to home, in California. With forests continuing to lose moisture due to rising temperatures, the 2018 California wildfire season became the most brutal on record: racking up 93 fatalities and 1,671,203 acres burned burned. In San Jose, my community was lucky enough to only endure poor air quality for a couple of days— it didn’t impact our health, but it did impact our consciences. The masks that my classmates and I wore to school were symbolic of the larger threat that looms over all of us.

Anthropogenic climate change. It’s real.

Tragically, my fellow Republicans continue to stand staunchly in the way of any climate legislation. Navigating this roadblock is the most essential, and most elusive, step towards achieving environmental progress. While some über-progressive climate activists may see eradicating Republicans as the only means of eradicating fossil fuels, the reality is that conservative Americans will continue to exist for as long as politics does. In fact, my generation, Gen Z, is shaping up to be one of the most conservative in decades.

With both the need for a comprehensive solution to climate change and conservative politics here for the long haul, the two must coexist. Schoolhouse Rock taught me the process by which a bill becomes a law: any policy requires backing from both sides of the aisle in order to, first, get passed, and more pertinently, stay passed. Ephemeral Obama-era climate progress becomes frivolous when put into the context of the Trump administration’s ongoing rollback of 83 environmental regulations.

As long as the environment remains a contentious issue akin to health care or tax reform, climate policy in the United States will flip-flop from administration to administration — a catastrophic outcome when immediate and sustained action is required. To mend this vicious cycle, climate discourse must be depolarized and bipartisan bridges must be built.

Bipartisan climate action, thankfully, is not an oxymoron. A series of surveys conducted this year by renowned GOP pollster Frank Luntz finds that getting Republicans on board with climate action is more than feasible. The majority of Republicans, at 55%, expressed a desire for the government to regulate carbon emissions, and by a 4-1 margin, Republican worries about the climate have increased rather than decreased over the past year.

The foundation for bipartisan climate action is there; it’s just waiting to be built upon. Polarizing climate policy such as the Green New Deal chips away at that foundation, reinforcing the conservative misconception that any climate action is a Trojan Horse for socialism and government control.

Regardless, climate policy also must be comprehensive— not a watered-down solution that appeases Republicans but barely makes a dent in emissions.

Here’s where carbon dividends come in. It’s the climate solution that anticipates reducing carbon emissions 90% by 2050, while enjoying unprecedented 2-1 support from Republicans and 16-1 support from Democrats. Sorcery? No. Our only chance? It’s likely.

The carbon dividends plan consists of a revenue-neutral, gradually-rising fee on carbon emissions. The carbon fee utilizes the unmatched power of American free markets to incentivize energy innovation away from fossil fuels, while the fee’s revenue goes directly to the people— divided up amongst all Americans in monthly dividend checks. Conservatives enjoy the limited role of government, while progressives admire the robust emissions reduction.

The policy has proved its worth under the most precise evaluations; 27 Nobel Prize-winning economists have endorsed it, and a study from REMI found that carbon dividends would produce 2.1 million new jobs and $1.375 trillion in GDP growth by 2035.

In order to finally move the needle on climate, Americans need to build a cross-aisle bridge and unite behind carbon dividends. Write your members of Congress and urge them to join 60 of their colleagues by co-sponsoring the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. It’s the largest bipartisan climate bill to make it to committee in a decade.

Passing climate legislation cannot continue to be a battle of Democrats vs. Republicans— it must become one between Americans and a changing climate.

This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 7:00 AM.