Signs of rising global temperatures could not be overlooked as Speaker Kevin McCarthy traveled to a natural gas drilling site in northeast Ohio to support House Republicans' desire to dramatically increase domestic production of energy from fossil fuels. The air was filled with smoke from wildfires in Canada.
Plant a Trillion Trees
The speaker was prepared with an answer when asked about climate change and forest fires: Plant a trillion trees, as reported by The Associated Press.
The concept, which was straightforward but enormously ambitious, revealed current Republican thinking on how to deal with climate change.
The party is looking for a solution to the hot summers, weather catastrophes, and rising sea levels without giving up their ardent support for American-produced energy from burning oil, coal, and gas. The party is no longer denying that global warming exists.
What the Biden Administration Is Doing
The Biden administration increased LNG supplies to Europe as a result to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, one of the continent's major energy suppliers. The Democratic president has also stated that coal, oil, and gas will continue to be a source of energy for the United States for a long time.
What's Causing the Rise in Global Temperatures?
The majority of scientists concur that heat-trapping gases created through the burning of fossil fuels are responsible for the rise in global temperatures, the disruption of global weather patterns, and the extinction of many animal species.
However, most Republicans still reject the government action to impose emissions reductions that has long been advocated by Democrats and environmentalists.
Read also: Targeted Tree Planting Could Alleviate Flooding Downstream
Why Plant Trees?
According to a study published in 2019, one of the most efficient strategies to combat climate change may be to grow trees that will absorb the heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The theory was adopted by significant conservation organizations and former President Donald Trump, who discounted humanity's contribution to climate change.
Environmental Scientists Oppose the Idea
Environmental scientists, however, have sharply criticized the push for more tree planting and label it a diversion from efforts to reduce emissions from fossil fuels. Additionally, it has been made clear by the original study's authors that planting trees does not take away from "the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
A huge area, nearly the size of the continental United States, would be needed to plant one trillion trees. In a warming climate, more trees might potentially make wildfires more likely by acting as fuel.
In 2021, the GOP's new stance on climate change became clear. As part of a global initiative to plant 1 trillion trees, McCarthy and other GOP members, led by Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, supported a bill to provide incentives for expanding wood forests in the United States. Westerman predicted that this year will see the advancement of a similar idea.
Republicans believe the bill passes muster. It supports the timber industry and promotes a climate change solution that would partially reduce the need to wean the nation off fossil fuels by sequestering a significant amount of carbon from human-caused emissions.
House Republicans have attempted to roll back several aspects of Biden's climate policy, deriding them as costly and onerous. They have criticized investment plans that take environmental impact into account as well as government incentives for renewable energy projects. They made a motion last week to prevent the Department of Defense from utilizing funding to carry out the president's climate executive directives.
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