Rejecting climate issues is unsustainable for Florida and for the conservative movement | The Sun Sentinel

Rejecting climate issues is unsustainable for Florida and for the conservative movement

By Chris Barnard

Five GOP presidential candidates will take the stage tonight to convince the American people that each is the best choice for Commander-in-Chief. If candidates fail to address the elephant in the room, though, their arguments will fail.

Tonight, Miami residents will be all ears, waiting for candidates to address one of their most pressing challenges: climate change. Rising sea levels and intense heat waves affecting the city make tonight’s debate the perfect backdrop for unveiling a conservative climate and energy blueprint; candidates must seize the opportunity.

The next president of the United States must have a robust, America-First climate agenda, prioritizing clean, affordable and reliable energy for our nation. In practice, this means three big objectives: unleashing clean nuclear energy, modernizing our permitting system to build energy projects in America, and achieving American energy dominance over adversaries like China and Russia.

Some may argue that conservatives voting in a presidential primary don’t want to hear about climate change or the environment, but that’s far from the truth. In fact, 67% of 2020 Trump voters said they believed climate change is real, according to ClearPath Action. They just need a candidate to chart the path forward on the issue in a conservative, common-sense way.

Unfortunately, there has not been a Republican candidate willing to do that in the previous two presidential elections, both marked by rhetoric such as calling climate change a “Chinese hoax.” Some factions of the conservative movement have planted their feet firmly in climate skepticism, branding the issue as a left-wing one not worth the movement’s time. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, for example, puts climate change in condescending quotation marks, which is a severe faux pas for conservatives wanting to win the general election come November 2024.

Consider, for example, recent evidence from the University of Colorado in Boulder, showing that climate concern was one of the strongest predictors of independents voting for Joe Biden in 2020. For our conservative movement to remain viable beyond this election cycle, this must change.

Young voters — many uncommitted to a political party — prioritize climate change more than any other generation. Consistently, climate ranks in Millennials’ and Gen Z’s top electoral issues. Even 70% of young Republicans are concerned about the quality of our environment.

Through my work in grassroots advocacy, I see young, passionate people each and every day talk about how the issue informs their political identity. That political identity does not have to be progressive. Allowing the so-called “other side” complete ownership of this issue is a recipe for disaster for the conservative movement at large.

Already, though, this primary season holds the promise of a robust conservative climate agenda. At the first presidential debate in Milwaukee, a climate question was asked just 20 minutes into the debate by a young conservative. It’s unfortunate that the question became a hand-raising exercise, but real-time dial-testing showed that Ambassador Nikki Haley’s acknowledgment of the issue won over far more prospective voters than Vivek Ramaswamy’s half-denial.

But, that was August, and now it’s November — just two months out from the Iowa caucuses that officially begin primary season. Time is running out for candidates who wish to be the voters’ choice.

By embracing an all-of-the-above energy approach fueled by American innovation and competitiveness, a Republican candidate could not only take the primary but the general as well. The time is now — and Miami is the place — for true conservative climate leadership.

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