A popular misconception is that global warming is an inherently partisan issue. Liberals are environmentally aware and for action against increased carbon emissions while conservatives wave off climate change as alarmism and oppose limits on carbon emissions on economic grounds — or so the stereotype goes. The time has come for this supposed truth to be exposed for the falsehood that it is.

There is nothing inherently liberal about environmentalism. The first national parks were created by President Theodore Roosevelt. The pivotal Clean Air and Clean Water acts were signed by none other than President Richard Nixon, who certainly never espoused Democrat values. To support action on global warming is to support action to conserve our wilderness, our country, and indeed our entire way of life — three principles that are dear to conservative hearts.

Now you may be thinking at this point, “but most climate change skeptics are conservatives or Republicans.” You would be right to do so. Until a few years ago, both of us were skeptics and Republicans. We proudly remain Republicans, but we have changed our minds on global warming for three reasons.

First, there is now a clear, undeniable and nearly unanimous consensus amongst climate scientists that global warming is happening and that the rising temperatures resulting from carbon emissions are a significant driving force behind the increasingly volatile change in our environment.

Conservatism is not, as many people claim it is, anti-science. From a scientific standpoint global warming is an empirically verified theory as relevant to reality as the science that gave us the computer and the automobile.

Second, global warming is a national security risk not only in the intermediate future, but now as well. The Center for Naval Analysis Corporation, a non-profit research and analysis organization located in Arlington, Va., released a report in 2007 coauthored by 16 retired senior military officers, all generals or admirals, stating that global warming amplified both domestic and foreign threats to American national security. Increasingly volatile weather at home and abroad will stretch the United States’ crisis response capabilities. Decreased rainfall and rising temperatures will further the type of instability that produces terrorism and resource wars. They will also degrade our ability to respond to these events due to increased stress on an already aging national infrastructure. That report was recently rereleased and updated due to climate forecasts demonstrating that the national security threats CNA had previously thought were in our intermediate future are relevant now.

Third, we as a country now have the ability to confront climate change in a way that is market friendly, will help ordinary middle class Americans, and will not grow government. A revenue neutral carbon tax and dividend is a policy option that, if enacted at the federal level, will accurately price and dramatically reduce carbon emissions, drive innovation in the market-place by creating incentives to switch to clean American energy, and put money back into the hands of hardworking Americans without a cent of it filling the coffers of Washington.

Over the course of the next few months, our friends and colleagues at Maine Mid-Coast Citizens’ Climate Lobby will be making the case for a revenue-neutral carbon tax in this space. MMCCL is a Maine affiliate of the national group Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a group devoted to promoting truly bipartisan action on global warming. Amongst our ranks are liberals, conservatives and individuals of virtually every stripe in between. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a Conservative or a Liberal, or any other political persuasion, we invite you to join us as we strive to create multi-partisan coalition behind a policy that will both protect our economy and our country.

If you would like to learn more you can visit us at sites.google.com/site/midcoastmaineccl/ home or like us on Facebook!

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Adam Pontius works at the Portland Public Library and was vice-chair of College Republicans at Elmira College. Mike Cambareri is an employee at Idexx industries, is pursuing a degree in biology and chemistry at the University of Southern Maine, and is a lifelong Republican as well as a former treasurer of Elmira College Republicans. Both are part of the Maine Mid-Coast Citizens’ Climate Lobby.