As I read a recent Tribune letter to the editor, “GOP must point the way,” I wondered if the writer had been paying attention for the last 45 years about where the Republicans have been! The answer is they have been in the pocket of the coal, oil and gas industries. When scientists presented research information in the 1970s that putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would warm the planet, the carbon dioxide producing industries enlisted Republicans in their campaign to stifle laws that would decrease carbon dioxide emissions.
In 2006 Al Gore produced “An Inconvenient Truth,” which explained and demonstrated the problems and dangers of climate change. Even then the Republicans continued to thwart any congressional effort to address the issue. During the following Bush and Obama presidencies, the Republicans continued to scuttle efforts to pass laws to decrease carbon emissions. We all know that former president Trump made opposing the reality of climate change one of his signature issues, so much so that most Republicans (even some who actually believe in the science of human caused climate change) were cowed into either supporting his lie or were too afraid to challenge him.
Now, suddenly some Republicans want to “point the way.” Please! As long as the last president holds sway over the Republicans that will not happen.
Some Republican ideas are good but today’s crisis requires solutions that are bolder and more quick acting. Hopefully some gutsy Republicans will join Democrats in finding those solutions. The world has waited far too long for decisive leadership fighting climate change and it is time for all Americans to unite to produce that needed leadership.
David Hart, Torrey