How conservatives are environmentalists in their own way
Mar 27, 2019, 1:04 PM | Updated: Oct 10, 2024, 2:27 pm
Environmentalism isn’t an issue that’s associated with conservatism these days, and yet considering that many love being outdoors and are involved in farming, it seems their voices should be more front and center.
Todd Myers with the Washington Policy Center joined The Saul Spady Show to discuss the conservative viewpoint on environmentalism.
“It’s interesting, because there was a great study last year that found that people who were skeptical about climate change actually did more for the environment in their day-to-day lives than people who strongly believe in climate change,” Myers said.
“That aligns with conservatives who feel that it’s their personal duty to help the environment, but are afraid of government intervention.”
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Myers that believes that when you talk about the environment as a political concept, many conservatives see it as a Trojan horse for big government.
“So what happens is they sound like they don’t care about the environment, even as in their day to day lives they care about it.”
Recently, state voters struck down a $15 per metric ton carbon fee in the form of I-1631, by a 56.6 to 43.4 percent margin, though another has been proposed as part of a $15 billion transportation spending measure.
For Myers, many of the core conservative principles regarding the free market and related innovation are actually instrumental for a thriving environmental landscape, instead of overreaching government policies. He cited the crowdsourced Seabin project, a device created by surfers that floats around marinas and sucks up trash.
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“Where you find the best ideas for cleaning the environment or for doing more with less, come from small efforts like that,” he said. “These small technology approaches are much better than the Left’s major efforts to force lifestyle changes.”
“The conservative ideals on the free market are the best way to help the environment. Economics is the study of scarce resources, and that’s what the environment is about. The free market is the best system ever created to do more with less, and that’s the heart of environmentalism. We need to get conservatives to be better on this issue, and talk about it and not be afraid of it,” he added.
