An in-depth look at California Gov. Jerry Brown’s crusade against global warming underscores how his battle against greenhouse gas emissions isn’t just about politics.
Brown’s “religious inclinations” also play a role, according to an in-depth article by E&E News.
“He’s a Catholic boy who appreciates God’s Earth,” said Orville Schell, a director at the Asia Society who E&E News also described as Brown’s “longtime chronicler.”
“This is nothing new for him to worry about environmental issues,” Schell told E&E News. “There’s no one like him in America. He has his vices and his virtues, but he’s very open. He can’t help thinking globally, and he’s now pushing California to act globally.”
Since becoming governor, Brown, a Democrat, has made tackling global warming a major priority. He started the “Under 2 Coalition” in 2015 to give state and provincial officials a bigger say in drafting of the Paris climate accord.
More recently, Brown’s environmental profile took off in the wake of President Donald Trump’s vowing to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. Brown derided the decision, and signed climate agreements with Chinese provinces.
“Most things in politics are extremely relative and ephemeral,” Brown told E&E news while in Beijing in June.
“Climate approaches the absolute in that as the climate is disrupted over time, it’s not going to be reversed in the lifetime of civilization,” Brown said. “It partakes of the fundamental character of the theological principle. That’s why it interested me more than the other topics that we deal with in politics.”
