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I’m a Conservative. We Need to Make the Environment Nonpartisan.

By Benji Backer

Produced by Sophia Alvarez Boyd

Climate change is a deeply divisive issue in modern American politics, but that wasn’t always the case. Today, progressivism is often associated with environmental action, but not long ago the Republican Party equated conservatism with conservation.

In this audio essay, Benji Backer, an environmental activist and conservative author, argues that “we have to make climate change and the environment nonpartisan again.”

(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.)

Credit…Illustration by The New York Times; photograph by annabogush/Getty

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This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Sophia Alvarez Boyd. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin and Alison Bruzek. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Carole Sabouraud, Isaac Jones and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. Our executive producer is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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