Graduate Project
 

Greening a Red State: Understanding the Complexities of Environmental Policy in Florida

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/8g84mv65q

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  • In some legislative bodies, the use of terms like climate change and global warming is frequently seen as taboo. In the United States, voters who identify as right-leaning have reported little concern about the environment or climate change. This lack of interest is mirrored by Republican legislators who often publicly denounce climate change and move to weaken environmental protections or vote against them. However, despite this, outliers do exist. Florida is a state with a popular Republican Governor and administration that has also continued to pass legislation with an emphasis on environmental restoration and protection. Food, water, energy initiatives, and related policies are interlinked with climate protection, and therefore the environmental protections passed by Florida’s administration, consequently, positively affect the climate. Through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework, which examines policy adoption through analysis of political coalitions and interest groups, this research aims to explore two primary questions: 1) How do the political strategies employed by Governor DeSantis's administration in Florida – particularly those strategies that may deviate from typical party lines – affect the likelihood of passing environmental policies in the state, and 2) How do the observed political behaviors in Florida offer broader lessons for the development and implementation of effective environmental policies in various political contexts, regardless of a state's prevailing political leanings or party dominance. The results of this research indicate that Florida, under Governor Ron DeSantis, has made significant strides in environmental stewardship despite traditional Republican skepticism toward environmental regulation. This analysis demonstrates how Republican-led states can enact meaningful environmental legislation focusing on traditional protection without overt emphasis on climate change. These findings may inform strategies useful in implementing climate and environmental policies in otherwise hostile legislative environments.
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