Conservatives for climate action

Donald Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention was calibrated to stoke fear, but its 82 minutes of doom and gloom failed to mention the singular threat the world faces: climate change. The official RNC platform, for all its departures from the nominee’s positions, echoes the low priority he places on climate action.

It hasn’t always been this way. Before Trump the candidate dismissed climate change as a “hoax,” a “con job,” and “bullshit,” Trump the businessman signed a 2009 letter calling for aggressive action to avoid “catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.” Party leaders once took climate change more seriously, too. A recent ad campaign gathers footage of the last several Republican presidents and nominees in which each states plainly that the climate crisis is serious and real.

The organization behind the ad campaign, Partnership for Responsible Growth, is one of several conservative groups that object to the GOP’s refusal even to acknowledge the problem anymore. These conservatives are right to dissent from the party that purports to represent them. Climate action is critical—and there are steps that could be taken that are in line with the conservatism of free markets and economic liberty.