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The Politics Of 'Climate': How Opposite Ideologies Are Pushing Clean Energy

petition boxes piled on wagons
Jessica Palombo
/
WFSU News

Environmentalists are attacking Gov. Rick Scott’s inaction on climate change at the same time a liberal-leaning superPAC is running climate-based ads against the Republican incumbent. But progressive groups don’t have a monopoly on environmental issues. A conservative organization taking root in Florida aims to promote green issues while keeping the executive branch red.

More than 92,000 thousand people recently signed petitions asking  Scott, a Republican, to lead the fight against climate change.

Environmental activists and kids hauled wagon loads of boxes into Scott’s office this week. Nine-year-old Tallahassee resident Adi Chauhan stood in the governor’s waiting room holding a hand-written speech.

“I am concerned about climate change because the water levels will eventually rise over most of our coastlines. The weather will be affected too. The summers will get warmer and the winters will get colder, so it’s time to, you know, fight against climate change,” he said.

A coalition called Florida’s Clean Future ran the petition drive demanding Scott act by limiting pollution from coal-powered plants and investing in “clean” options like solar power. That’s exactly what the federal EPA wants states to do under a plan that drastically cuts pollutionover the next 15 years. It’s the feds’ response to overwhelming evidence climate change increasingly threatens public safety. Whoever becomes the next Florida governor will guide the state’s pollution-reduction effort once the EPA rule becomes official. Maybe that’s Scott.

During the final gubernatorial debate, CNN host Jake Tapper addressed Scott with this question: “Why are you so reluctant to believe the overwhelming majority of scientists who say that man contributes to climate change?”

Scott has often expressed doubt or indifference to climate science. He didn’t answer Tapper’s question directly, but the governor listed projects he says amount to solutions, all while pointing a finger at Democratic opponent Charlie Crist.

“He didn’t put money to deal with sea level rise. He didn’t lift a finger to settle the lawsuit over the Everglades. He didn’t put a dime into coral reefs. He didn’t put money to make sure our springs were protected,” Scott said.

Crist replied he believes man is contributing to climate change and says, as governor, he took action too.

“I signed executive orders, Rick, the nature of which you would never sign, to cut emissions,” Crist said. “And why do I believe it’s important to do that? Because I believe in renewable energy.”

With the race deadlocked, Scott has been a target for the NextGen Climate superPAC, a group running attack ads in big Florida TV markets. The messages, backed largely by billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, say Scott’s denialism makes him wrong for Florida.

But not all environmental activists share Steyer’s political stripes.

“I am the founder of Green Tea Coalition. That is the conservation arm of the Tea Party,” says Debbie Dooley. Her Green Tea Coalition is branching into Florida under the name Conservatives for Energy Freedom.

“I think it’s high time that conservatives and Republicans step forward and start advancing and advocating for more decentralized energy and for solar,” she says.

But while many of Green Tea’s goals mesh with those of groups like NextGen Climate, Dooley disagrees the path to energy diversity is voting conservatives out of office. Instead, she believes she can change their minds. And, because it’s all in the messaging, she says “climate” is a forbidden word.

“We talk about a free-market message, national security and how monopolies are the government’s way of picking winners and losers,” she says. “Then we conservatives are very receptive.”

Dooley says Conservatives for Energy Freedom has had great luck selling elected officials on solar power in her home state of Georgia. And she says she’s confident about spreading the sunshine in its namesake state too.