Jim DiPeso of Republicans for Environmental Protection gives 10 Environmental Issues Republicans Should Champion.

1. Climate change
2. Energy security
3. Clean energy
4. Clean air
5. Clean water
6. Mountaintop removal coal mining
7. Land and water conservation fund
8. Wilderness
9. Public lands
10. Ocean stewardship

A few thoughts:

• Some of these should be no-brainers, such as clean air, clean water, and ocean stewardship.
• Several of these involve diversification of our energy portfolio to include more low-carbon energy sources. This diversification will be good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for our national security.
• Even if you aren’t sure about climate change, you should acknowledge that it makes sense for us to move away from our current use-it-as-if-it-will-last-forever carbon energy economy. Better to plan now and ease into times of decreasing oil supplies than to have a “wait and see” attitude.
• Some Republicans have a vision for stewardship of the environment, but a good number do not. Sadly, it is often the conservative Christians—heirs of the mandate to tend the garden—who are loudest in their opposition to environmental legislation.

HT: The Evangelical Ecologist

Grace and Peace