Citation 2:

Dunlap, Riley E., and Araon M. McCright. “A widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on Climate Change.” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, vol. 50, no. 5, 2008, pp. 26–35, https://doi.org/10.3200/envt.50.5.26-35. accessed 11.4.2023

Summary:

The gaps between Democrats and Republicans on climate change have become wider. In the early 1970s until the mid-1990s, the percentage of Democrats that supported environmental protection was only 10% higher than the Republicans. This began to change after the 1990s. Leaders of the Republican Party had a highly skeptical view of global warming. According to the graphs attached in the article, most Republicans believed that global warming is exaggerated by the news. They did not believe global warming was caused by human activity. In addition, most Republicans did not think global warming would be a threat to their lifetime. In contrast, most Democrats believed in global warming and believed it was a threat. 

Reflection:

The major gap between the Republicans and Democrats on the topic of global warming is concerning. The Republicans have 222 seats and the Democrats have 213 seats in Congress. This raises a serious concern as bills must be passed based on votes on behalf of Congress members before going to the president for further consideration. This means if the Republican side disapproved then the bill would be dismissed. Since the Republicans do not believe global warming is a threat, it is likely that bills that promote reducing global warming are going to be disapproved. In other words, they believe that global warming is not a big deal so they would not focus and treat environmental issues seriously. This is a serious problem because there are multiple data out there that prove the increase in temperature. The fact that the Republicans are ignoring scientific results is concerning. The future generations would be the ones suffering from the consequences of the inactions of Congress. We need more laws enforcing the prohibition of air pollution. As members of Congress, they should be doing everything in their power to prevent the decrease in quality of life from happening. The power they hold in hand is meant to protect us and improve our lives and they are failing in doing this one job that they have. With all these powers in hand, the older generations are not making decisions that are good enough to insure the quality of life. They are not focusing on the right topics. Thus, this power needs and should be distributed in different age groups instead of just the older generations. 

Quote:

“ It would appear that the vigorous conservative campaign against climate science (particularly the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)) and climate change advocates (especially Al Gore) has contributed to leaders of the Republican Party adopting a highly skeptical view of global warming”.