Newt, we never knew ya. . . .

newtRegardless of one’s affiliations, most of us have certain assumptions about which side of the political spectrum carries the stronger green sympathies.

But - as though paralleling its weird effects on the weather - climate change is now playing havoc with America’s conventional landscape of ‘issue-based’ politics. While some influential voices on the right continue to persist in their outspoken denial, it is becoming increasingly clear that the crisis is no longer narrowly viewed as a ‘liberal’ or even ‘environmental’ concern, in the conventional sense of the terms. Examples of this shift abound. Consider, for example, how for more than a few years a national security argument for action on emissions reduction has steadily gained greater amplitude and persuasive power in the mainstream; or how a growing number of fiscal conservative thinkers are coming to support the idea of a carbon tax; or the recent explosion of Evangelical Christian climate activism, and how it has established that influential group as a force for positive change.

But just this week a most unexpected bedfellow appears to have jumped into the eclectic sack that is the contemporary climate change movement. Newt Gingrich, architect of the conservative Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the mid-90s, has released a book about combating global warming that appears to rhyme, in many important respects (though certainly not all - read: nuclear), with arguments coming that are held within some corners of the environmental movement. I’d say that signals that a pretty obvious paradigm shift has occurred.

Out this week, with a forward by renowned biologist and writer E.O. Wilson A Contract With The Earth (2007, Johns Hopkins UP), is sure to be an interesting and highly influential read.

Here’s a recent NYT review .


Posted on Friday, November 16th, 2007 at 4:49 pm | Tagged in Global Warming, Politics | posted by Neidl

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