conservative environmentalism

About that carbon tax idea….

Eric Biber posted last week about the proposal from several heavyweight Republicans for a carbon tax, outlined in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Much has been said about the merits and problems of a carbon tax, including on this blog, so I will try not to repeat those points here. However, I wanted to expand …

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How to Protect the Environment: Views from the Right

Duke will be holding a very timely event on conservative visions of environmental law.  Everyone knows what forms of environmental protection conservatives oppose, but conservative alternatives are less widely known. This is a welcome opportunity to hear ideas about an affirmative conservative vision. (Details and registration information here.)

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A Friendly Debate with a Conservative Colleague About Climate

My friend and colleague Steve Bainbridge is out with a new article on “Corporate Lawyers as Gatekeepers,” which, if you are interested in corporate law, you should read (Steve is one of the country’s most distinguished scholars in the field).  But what piqued my interest when he sent it to me was his offhand remark …

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Environmental Protection and Conservative Values

Tom Friedman had an interesting column yeserday about conservatism and the environment.  As he points out, the current wave of anti-environmentalism is out of line with Republican traditions: “Teddy Roosevelt bequeathed us national parks, Richard Nixon the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency, Ronald Reagan the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer …

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Do Law Schools Discriminate Against Conservatives?

Teresa R. Wagner, a conservative Republican who applied for a faculty job at Iowa and was turned down, thinks so: Ms. Wagner, who graduated from the law school in 1993 and had taught at the George Mason University School of Law, was not hired. She sued, alleging discrimination because of her political beliefs. Late last …

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Hey Conservatives! Let’s Make a Deal on Keystone XL!

The always-thoughtful Jared Bernstein has a, well, thoughtful take on Keystone XL.  It might be called the view of a Realist Progressive Economist.  Bernstein’s point is that given the global demand for oil, and the Canadian government’s commitment to getting it out of the ground and selling it (much stronger now that the Tories have …

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How Do You Solve a Problem Like Conservative White Men? Ask the Ol’ Perfesser

Dave Roberts wants to know. Roberts alludes to a recent survey showing that conservative white men are the most likely group to be climate deniers.  (We can put this in the “knock-me-over-with-a-feather” department, although it would be interesting to see how this works with conservative white women).  More interestingly, the study (with assistance from Roberts) …

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So much for “consensus climate solutions”

Our friend Jon Adler has taken many of us and most progressives to task for not pursuing “consensus solutions” to climate change.  What might these consensus climate solutions be?  Well, Jon insists that it would look something like a revenue-neutral carbon tax (such as is proposed by the superb Carbon Tax Center) instead of a …

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Shouldn’t Conservatives Be Environmentalists?

It seems to me that the answer is yes, contrary to popular opinion.  There are several varieties of conservatism, but in my view each of them should resonate with at least some aspects of environmental protection. Let’s start with social conservatives.  What does it mean to have a “culture of life”?  Shouldn’t it mean objecting …

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