Back in 1988, sizeable portions of both parties saw climate legislation as sensible. Claudine Schneider, a Republican from Congressional representative from Rhode Island warned of the “very high risk of irreversible and catastrophic impact looming on the horizon” if the United States failed to act. She along with other Republicans and Democrats both in the House and the Senate supported ambitious bills that included a call to reduce carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, not just to lower emissions. This article traces the brief history of this attempt at a national climate change policy from three decades ago and remarks on the new moral calculus of the current wave of climate activism in Congress.
By Nathaniel Rich. New York Times. April 20, 2019.
