Why these conservatives changed their minds on climate change
The biggest source of conservative skepticism on climate change is fear of what the solution might be, said Josiah Neeley, senior fellow in energy policy at the R Street Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy research organization focused on free enterprise. The phenomenon of denying problems when the solutions are undesirable is called solution aversion.
“There is a suspicion that if they embrace the idea that climate is a problem, they are going to be pushed into some liberal or big government response to the whole thing,” said Neeley, who used to doubt there was anything that could reasonably be done to combat climate change.
As he did more research, Neeley’s view began to evolve. Now he says a revenue neutral carbon tax, deregulation of clean energy sources like nuclear and hydropower plants and cutting back of government subsidies for fossil fuel generation and the cost of living in disaster-prone areas could have a significant impact without hurting the economy. As a general principle, he believes reducing regulation to allow for more innovation will assist the natural proliferation of more efficient, cheaper clean energy solutions around the world.
