Man-made climate change is real, and a genuine threat to our country, according to Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski in a Saturday WaPo op-ed. Our states are already feeling its effects, and we’re determined to do something about it. Not that ridiculous Green New Deal, of course–something reasonable. We don’t know what it is yet, but we’ll be listening to scientists, and it’ll be great. Trust us. Trust us.
Naturally, I reacted to that with a mixture of scorn and laughter. And yet, it may be meaningful in ways that M & M do not intend. Here’s my analysis:
- You might think that they are in similar positions with regard to fossil fuels and climate change, but they aren’t. West Virginia isn’t feeling any special effects of climate change, but coal mining there is more nostalgia than reality. On the other hand, Alaska is basically Saudi Arabia with snow, but it genuinely is feeling the impacts of climate change; critical infrastructure is cracking as the permafrost melts, coastal areas are flooding, and polar bears are starting to hang out in areas where they are unwelcome. Murkowski is going to need federal help to deal with those problems (which, of course, are largely created by the burning of Alaskan oil).
- Once you concede that climate change is real, and that scientists are not charlatans, it will be difficult to keep the discussion contained. At a minimum, it will be embarrassing to Trump, and should generate lots of interesting questions during the 2020 campaign.
- My guess is that M & M’s “solution” will be to ask for lots of money for their respective states for job training, infrastructure protection, and investments in speculative technology to create, among other things, “clean coal.” If everyone else in Congress jumps on this train, you will at least have the embryo of a program to adapt to climate change up front, rather than appropriating huge amounts of money to deal with disasters after the fact. It’s not even close to a real solution, but it would be better than what we have right now.