Former South Carolina Rep. brings 'conservative solution to climate change' to Spokane
Many Republicans enjoy hunting, fishing and camping outdoors, Spokane Young Republicans chair Enrique Rico said. They like clean air and water, and appreciate the beauty of the natural world as much as anyone.
"Republicans also care about the environment," Rico said. "We all share this planet; I think it's an important message"
Such was the reasoning for welcoming former U.S. representative for South Carolina Bob Inglis to speak on the "conservative solution to climate change" Tuesday evening. Earlier in the day, he presented to a class at Gonzaga University, and Wednesday he headed for the University of Idaho.
After 12 years in Congress, Inglis was voted out in 2010, his Republican opponent Trey Gowdy securing 71% of the vote. He pointed toward his introducing a carbon tax as part of the reasoning for his loss, along with his votes against the 2007 Iraq troops surge and for the 2008 Wall Street bailout. Still, he boasts Christian values, an anti-abortion stance and a 92% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union as his GOP credentials.
Now, he directs a nonprofit called RepublicEN, traveling largely to conservative parts of the country to speak on climate change solutions.
Originally a "climate skeptic," Inglis said he was convinced that climate change is real during a trip to Antarctica, where he watched researchers gather data from ice core drilling. Ice in the Antarctic is known to preserve atmospheric conditions from the time it was formed, meaning scientists can determine changes in greenhouse gas levels (such as carbon dioxide and methane) between the past and present. They can also measure temperature and human impact more directly by looking at isotopes - different variations - of carbon and oxygen atoms trapped in the ice.
"We think that conservatives have the world's most undeserved inferiority complex when it comes to addressing climate. Apparently, they just think they're no good, so when the topic comes up, they shrink in science denial or they talk about it as a hoax or something," he said. "When, in fact, they're the kid in the class with the answer - raise your hand."
The climate conversation on "the left," Inglis said, involves hysteria and a solution based in government regulation. He predicts the political pendulum will swing towards climate action in the future, which Republicans won't be in on unless they step up with their own solutions.
"That's a bad deal. The Republicans should be the ones that are saying, 'Maybe we can get ahead of this,' " he said.
A free enterprise angle is the Republican solution Inglis trumpets, and he encouraged others who believe in its potential to be visible in conservative spaces.
"There was a time when being interested in the environment basically meant 'No, don't, stop,' " Inglis said. For example, the eco-friendly options might have included not building a road or foregoing home heating in winter months. "Now, if you're into the environment, it's quite the opposite. It's actually, 'Build stuff and build it fast.' ... We need a lot more electricity, and we need it cleanly. We need permitting reform, and we need to figure out how to make small, modular reactors work."
Even if a lawmaker does not buy the climate change data, Inglis said, the U.S. needs to stay in the global, clean energy technology race - particularly against China, which has seen scientists develop increasingly efficient batteries and small nuclear reactors in recent years.
"Where we are, I say, as Americans, is we can either double down on burning rocks and think that we can somehow stop this thing from happening," he said, "or, we can get in the game and figure out how to beat the Chinese to it."
Inglis' talk struck a chord with the 10 or so Young Republicans who showed up Tuesday.
Jackson Dines, 20, is the vice chair of the Spokane group.
"That's the hard thing with the Republican party - it's like it's one side or the other and there's no in between. So I've always been like, eh, I beg to differ," Dines said afterwards. "Like, you have Trump, who's saying, 'Oh, it's this big scam and hoax,' and I think the current - like, the last four years - that was not the way to go.
"We gotta find our happy middle."
Amanda McFarland, 38, is a frequent attendee of Young Republicans events. She said that she grew up fairly liberal and with a passion for conservation.
"For me, it was like, the polar bears are dying, we have the evidence. ... Big Al Gore-person, like we're gonna die in 20 years. Really, really convinced," she said. "And then there was something that changed my perspective kind of overnight, and it made me actually hesitate and say, 'Actually, I feel like some of this conservation stuff is maybe a tactic to control.' "
Now, she said she has seen both extremes of the climate conversation.
"I think that we really need to figure out our facts and make sure that left side, right side, there's no bias, because I think this is an opportunity to bypass left and right and just focus on what's true, what's accurate, can we work together," she said. "There's a lot of potential, but it is tricky ... how do we change the messaging? How do we do that if we need to do that? If we need to embrace environmentalism more as Republicans, let's do it."
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This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 11:39 PM.