Now What?
For climate hawks, it may seem like time is now divided into two distinct periods — the hopeful one before the election and the bewildering haze ever since. Clearly, things did not go quite as many environmentalists hoped. Big challenges lie ahead. We’ll need more time to figure out the full range of strategies to confront them.
But one important option persists from the before times: the opportunity to make a serious effort to reach out to folks who have not been part of the climate tribe.
Now more than ever, it seems to me, we should work to grow the bipartisan constituency supporting pragmatic environmental progress. And yes, of course, that includes reaching out to voters for Trump and other Republicans.
The winning argument here is simple: Climate policy does more than only address climate change. Smart, pragmatic climate action supports energy security, affordable and lower energy prices, and good onshore jobs. Republicans keep saying they want exactly these outcomes.