While Paris climate talks are underway, here at home Republicans are becoming ever-more isolated, marginalized, and discredited when it comes to climate change. They’re still in denial and refuse to take action.
Long ago they lost their case to scientists and climate data. Then they thumbed their nose at our venerable military which validated the prevailing climate science, saw the dire national security threat, developed contingency plans, and have themselves taken action. After that Republicans distanced themselves from the Catholic Church and the Pope, whose recent encyclical declared “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political….” That “our common home [earth] is like a sister with whom we share our life” and “This sister now cries out because of the harm we have inflicted on her….”
So after divorcing themselves from science, our military, and the Pope, where did that leave our unrecognizable, new-fangled, grand old conservative party? Who were their remaining allies in denying and obstinately fighting action on climate change? Well, big business was still reluctant to admit the truth. This came most fervently from those corporations which directly profited from the carbon-emitting status quo. Namely the fossil fuel industry—companies like Exxon, Koch Industries, and coal producer Peabody Energy.
Here’s what’s changing: Republicans now are losing Big Business. Yes they still have their apocalyptic fossil fuel partners. But they’re losing support from oodles of major US corporations, including bastions of conservative corporatocracy like Walmart, Monsanto, and International Paper. How can this be? It’s because an ever-increasing number of leading US corporations see climate change not only as a threat to humanity and national security, but to their bottom line businesses.
Consider multinational food companies like General Mills (cereals, Green Giant, Betty Crocker), Nestle (baby food, coffee, chocolate), and Mars (Snickers, M&M’s). These food giants see climate change as a clear threat to the global food supply. Companies like Mars are sending representatives to Paris lobbying for a strong climate agreement. But it doesn’t stop with billion dollar food companies that want a strong Paris deal.
Look no further than the astounding 81 huge US corporations which signed a White House pledge to back a global climate deal in Paris, and to take further actions on their own. These 81 companies “have operations in all 50 states, employ over 9 million people, represent more than $3 trillion in annual revenue, and have a combined market capitalization of more than $5 trillion.”
The pledge’s signatories run the gambit of US industry—technology (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Google), finance (Bank of America, American Express), medical (Johnson and Johnson, Biogen), retail (Target, Walmart, Nike), Ag (Monsanto, Cargill), energy (PG&E), and so many others—Disney, GE, UPS, GM.
The Obama administration’s goal is to reduce greenhouse emissions by 26-28% by 2025. Many of the 81 corporations have more lofty goals, like cutting carbon emissions by up to 50%, reducing water usage up to 80%, utilizing 100% renewable energy sources, and seeking zero net deforestation in their supply chains. Interested readers can go to www.whitehouse.gov/ClimatePledge to look at all 81 companies and what specific commitments they’re pledging.
Climate change is no longer simply an “environmental” issue—something that environmentalists and climate scientists see as a catastrophic threat to our natural world and all its inhabitants. Beyond the environment we have a moral obligation to combat climate change. We owe it to generations to come. If you’re God-fearing there is a religious obligation to be good stewards of our planet and to protect the lives born and unborn from the inevitable ravages of unchecked climate change. The Pope has been eloquent on the moral and religious reasons to act.
If you respect our military then we need to heed their call-to-action to combat the real and immediate threat that climate change poses. This is inextricably linked to our national security interests, including the threat from terrorism. Foreign terrorists will attempt to capitalize on the political instabilities wrought by climate change, especially in regions disproportionately impacted, like the Middle East and Africa.
Now we’re hearing a similar refrain from the business community. Corporations are seeing the threat to their bottom lines. They see the opportunities too.
Everyone’s getting on board to tackle the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced. Almost. While we can forget the Exxons and Kochs, we still need thoughtful Republicans—Republicans in the vein of Reagan, who tackled ozone depletion; Nixon, who saw threats from pollution and unsustainable public land management practices and passed major environmental laws; HW Bush, whose White House, in 1989, issued a memo calling climate change a threat that “cannot wait” for zero scientific doubt, for there would be “profound consequences” if ignored.
We have the scientific, moral, religious, military, and business reasons to act on climate change. Let’s do it.
Van P. Keele
Hamilton