Former congressman Bob Inglis speaks to students and Moscow residents about his conservative solution to climate change Thursday night in the College of Law courtroom.
Bob Inglis has been challenging non-climate change believers since 2004 with one major principle — conservatism.
The former Republican congressman from South Carolina visited the University of Idaho Wednesday evening to discuss his campaign that addresses climate change through conservative values. Moscow was Inglis’ fifth stop on the EnCourage tour, a 10-week trip across the country, where he plans to showcase free-enterprise climate solutions.
The event, “Solving Climate Change with Conservative Principles,” was held in the Menard Law Building Courtroom. Kenton Bird, an associate professor in the UI School of Journalism and Mass Media, provided an introduction and moderation throughout the event. Inglis spoke to an audience of over 150 people.
Inglis is the executive director of republicEn, an organization of people from all political backgrounds who push to reduce the effects of climate change.
He said republicEn members aim to level the playing field when it comes to the ways in which human interference harms our climate. Through innovation, Inglis said republicEn members hope to fight climate change with free enterprise rather than “economically ineffective subsidies and regulations.”
“At republicEn we don’t think it’s pointless to talk about climate change, we don’t think it’s going to destroy the American economy,” Inglis said.
Inglis was not always so understanding of climate change, he said. There were two factors that pushed Inglis to respond to the effects of climate change — his children and science.
Inglis said his oldest son initially urged him to look into climate change when Inglis ran for Congress again in 2004. With his wife, and all five children backing the climate change movement, Inglis said he realized it was time to take action.
So, he set out to see the science of climate change for himself in Antarctica.
“Step two was going out and seeing the evidence in the ice,” Inglis said.
After following the research in ice core drillings — places deep in Antarctic sheets of ice that house fossil fuel deposits — Inglis said he fully understood the effects burning fossil fuels have on the Earth’s atmosphere.
“When fossil fuels are brought to the surface and burnt, you bring them into the air and it lingers,” Inglis said. “It’s indisputable.”
Since then, Inglis said he has taken a page from David Friedman — an American economist and libertarian theorist — to push for a tax on air pollution, commonly called a carbon tax. Taxation, Inglis said, does not fit with conservative principles, but tax refunds and tax cuts could change that.
“We are out to convince conservatives and proclaim what Dr. Friedman would proclaim — the way to affect climate change is to tax pollution,” Inglis said.
Once carbon emissions are priced, Inglis said there will be more incentive for the fewer than 2,000 companies that mine coal and utilize oil pipelines to keep their fossil fuel output in check. With what Inglis calls “revenue neutrality,” he said the tax money paid will eventually fall down the ladder and land back in taxpayer hands.
Inglis compared the effects of climate change to a waste facility. He said on Earth, humans pay for the space they take up when they leave their trash at a dump.
“We seem to dump trash into the sky without any accountability for it,” Inglis said. “In the trash dump in the sky, you have to pay for the space you take up.”
However, Inglis said none of these principles will work without the backing of other major countries.
“It’s got to be border adjustable,” Inglis said. “We’ve got to get China and India in on it, or it’s going to be worthless.”
Though Inglis’ main goal is to reach out to climate change-avert conservatives, he said the country as a whole must come together for real progress.
“Surely, we can bring America together to get this done,” Inglis said.
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Hailey_ann97