Climate Change and the Environment are the most divisive issues in the US
https://www.people-press.org/2019/01/24/publics-2019-priorities-economy-health-care-education-and-security-all-near-top-of-list/
The Pew Research Center periodically asks US adults to list their top priorities for the White House and Congress. The results don't change much from year to year -- the top issues tend to be the economy, health care, education, and terrorism.
But the results do differ substantially with respect to political partisanship. For example, Republicans view terrorism as their #1 issue, whereas Democrats rank that issue #10. Democrats rank health care as their #1 issue, whereas Republicans rank that issue #6.
The widest disparity between the two sets of partisans occurs with respect to climate change and the environment. The two groups are 46 points apart on whether climate change should be a top priority, and 43 points apart on the environment. Climate change is at the bottom of the list for Republicans -- they just don't care about it.
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Last night I was listening to a podcast about Russia, and they spoke about how an important goal of Russian foreign policy is to keep other countries bitterly divided about doing anything to combat climate change.
This is because the hydrocarbon industry is very important to Russia's economy and government. Oil and natural gas revenues account for most of Russia's tax revenue and 80% of Russia's exports. Russia has the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world.
To the extent we in the US pay attention to Russia, it is often by thinking of Russia as a sort of 19th Century land-grabbing empire, and we try to block Russia by expanding NATO and to a lesser extent supporting the expansion of the EU. We don't usually think of Russia as the new Saudi Arabia, utterly dependent on the continuing growth in carbon dioxide emissions for its prosperity.
But an implicit goal of Russian foreign policy is to keep the world from cooperating in the fight against climate change. In this goal, Republicans in the US, and Russian government have a tacit alliance.
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Exxon Mobil, the largest oil & gas company in the US typically gives 80% of its political donations to Republicans. Chevron, the second largest, usually gives over 3 times as much money to Republicans than to Democrats.
There's a huge amount of wealth stored in the ground (aka proven reserves) as hydrocarbons. About $100 trillion worth of oil, about $50 trillion worth of natural gas. A trillion is such a large number as to be abstract, but approximately half of the entire world's net worth consists of these proven reserves of oil and natural gas, if it were all sold at today's prices.
If we were to keep it all in the ground, to stop climate change, we'd wipe out half of the world's wealth. The rich people, corporations, and countries that control all this wealth are not going to sit by quietly while the rest of us try to destroy their wealth.
So, when you wonder what Republicans and the Russians might have in common -- it's a strong desire to keep pumping oil and natural gas out of the ground at ever-increasing volumes.
The Pew Research Center periodically asks US adults to list their top priorities for the White House and Congress. The results don't change much from year to year -- the top issues tend to be the economy, health care, education, and terrorism.
But the results do differ substantially with respect to political partisanship. For example, Republicans view terrorism as their #1 issue, whereas Democrats rank that issue #10. Democrats rank health care as their #1 issue, whereas Republicans rank that issue #6.
The widest disparity between the two sets of partisans occurs with respect to climate change and the environment. The two groups are 46 points apart on whether climate change should be a top priority, and 43 points apart on the environment. Climate change is at the bottom of the list for Republicans -- they just don't care about it.
-----
Last night I was listening to a podcast about Russia, and they spoke about how an important goal of Russian foreign policy is to keep other countries bitterly divided about doing anything to combat climate change.
This is because the hydrocarbon industry is very important to Russia's economy and government. Oil and natural gas revenues account for most of Russia's tax revenue and 80% of Russia's exports. Russia has the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world.
To the extent we in the US pay attention to Russia, it is often by thinking of Russia as a sort of 19th Century land-grabbing empire, and we try to block Russia by expanding NATO and to a lesser extent supporting the expansion of the EU. We don't usually think of Russia as the new Saudi Arabia, utterly dependent on the continuing growth in carbon dioxide emissions for its prosperity.
But an implicit goal of Russian foreign policy is to keep the world from cooperating in the fight against climate change. In this goal, Republicans in the US, and Russian government have a tacit alliance.
-----
Exxon Mobil, the largest oil & gas company in the US typically gives 80% of its political donations to Republicans. Chevron, the second largest, usually gives over 3 times as much money to Republicans than to Democrats.
There's a huge amount of wealth stored in the ground (aka proven reserves) as hydrocarbons. About $100 trillion worth of oil, about $50 trillion worth of natural gas. A trillion is such a large number as to be abstract, but approximately half of the entire world's net worth consists of these proven reserves of oil and natural gas, if it were all sold at today's prices.
If we were to keep it all in the ground, to stop climate change, we'd wipe out half of the world's wealth. The rich people, corporations, and countries that control all this wealth are not going to sit by quietly while the rest of us try to destroy their wealth.
So, when you wonder what Republicans and the Russians might have in common -- it's a strong desire to keep pumping oil and natural gas out of the ground at ever-increasing volumes.