Last year, Faison founded and put $165 million into his ClearPath Foundation to promote clean energy and solutions to climate change. He’s starting to spend it in a campaign to persuade Republicans to accept the science and start to talk about solutions instead. ClearPath.org just had its official rollout this week.
“Climate change is both the greatest risk and the greatest opportunity of our time,†says the site. “Most experts strongly urge us to act on the risks. The most actionable solution—a switch to clean energy—is already underway. We just need to accelerate the transition.â€
“I always felt a little alone out there as a Republican, and so I started ClearPath to create a dialogue around this in a way that hadn’t been done before and sort of be part of the solution,†Faison told Politico. “We think that there are real Republican solutions to the problem.â€
Now he’s pledged to put $10 million into a 501 (c) 4 nonprofit, a political advocacy group to push Republicans toward more reality-based positions on climate issues. The group “will reward thoughtful response to the issue,†he said. It’s a sort of conservative counterpart to Tom Steyer’s liberal NextGen Climate, which is working to call out climate-denier candidates.
“Millennials especially want to see forward looking leadership that acknowledges the realities of today,†he told the National Journal. “I think it’s a brand issue. How our party and our presidential candidate talks about it will have a significant impact over voter perception, and I think the Democratic candidates know this.â€
“Nothing would be better for the planet than a bipartisan effort to put forward solutions to the tackle the climate crisis,†said Debbie Sease, Sierra Club’s DC Bureau Chief. “Time will tell how effective this approach proves to be, but Jay Faison’s forward thinking investment is hard to ignore. We look forward to the dialogue.â€
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