The third-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate is acknowledging that climate change “is occurring, it’s always occurring,” the Washington Post reported last week.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD) stated that “there are a number of factors that contribute to that, including human activity. The question is, what are we going to do about it and at what cost?” Stromberg takes that as a “glimmer of hope” for a majority caucus that “still seem(s) unwilling to move the discussion forward now that they have won control of Congress.”
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It isn’t enough to simply acknowledge the risk, but “Thune’s formulation points in a sure direction: It will be ultimately untenable for Republicans to admit that global warming is a legitimate concern yet reflexively attack efforts to deal with it,” Stromberg writes. For “honest conservatives,” he adds, “the efficient, market-friendly approach to cutting dependence on greenhouse gases is pricing carbon dioxide emissions and allowing market forces to adapt the economy.”
