Op-ed: Bipartisanship needed to fight climate change

Big problems, like the wildfires ravaging California, need big solutions. And big solutions generally can’t come from just one party without the other fighting, weakening or undoing it. Political dysfunction at the federal level leaves us ill-prepared to face one of the biggest threats of the modern era: climate change.

At the local level, the story is different. Leaders in Nevada and California are already dealing with the consequences of climate change as they cope with raging wildfires (again) and the worst drought on record. They’re confronted with falling levels in Lake Mead, a critical source of drinking water for the region. They know firsthand what NASA and every other major scientific institution has confirmed – the climate is changing and we’re responsible. Policy makers are starting to see conflicts arise among the various constituent groups – like Nevada’s farmers – that depend on critical shared resources, underscoring just how big the climate problem is.

Faced with such a big problem, state leaders have realized that they need big, bipartisan solutions to address climate change’s impacts in the region. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown have crossed state and party lines regularly to discuss greater cooperation around water.

In that bipartisan spirit, U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and ten other Republicans have offered a solution to help move past the gridlock and respond to growing climate- related security threats. Rep. Gibson has introduced a resolution that acknowledges human activity is contributing to climate change and that it poses a threat to national security. The Gibson Resolution urges that Republican Party to come up with a robust policy to address climate change and endorses policies that support energy efficiency and renewable energy.

While state and local leaders in the West are addressing climate change impacts through bipartisanship, our national leaders remain hamstrung by gridlock and partisan politics.

Meanwhile, climate-related impacts continue to challenge local governments and those abroad to such a degree that our military and national security leaders are forced to consider them in logistics planning and operations. Military leaders across the services have warned that climate change is a national security threat. The U.S. Department of Defense says climate change poses immediate risks and threats to U.S. national security, including costly threats to military installations from sea level rise and extreme droughts.

The Gibson Resolution is a much-needed bipartisan step forward on climate change, welcome news to political leaders in the West who have been working across party lines to address the devastating climate-related impacts in their states. It offers a focused, pragmatic effort on climate change that we need to see more of if we hope to reduce the risks Americans face locally, and the difficulties our military forces are confronting both at home and abroad. The Gibson Resolution is important and necessary because it acknowledges that climate change it isn’t just a long-term threat but something that is already happening now. With lives and livelihoods at stake, doubt and delay are no longer viable options.

Dr. Nancy E. Brune, who leads the bipartisan Guinn Center, and is a Truman National Security Fellow and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.