Climate protesters steer clear of Republican National Convention

This year’s Republican National Convention has seen a notable absence of climate protesters. While the United States grapples with unprecedented heat waves and the staggering toll of 15 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters so far this year alone, climate change remains conspicuously absent from the RNC agenda. 

The Republican Party platform, released last week, makes no mention of climate change and promotes lifting restrictions on oil, natural gas, and coal, emphatically stating, “We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL.”

In stark contrast to the party’s position, public opinion surveys show most Americans have significant concern about climate change. A recent CBS News poll found 70% favor taking steps to try to reduce climate change — though only 48% of Republicans agreed.

Still, few climate protesters turned out at the Republican convention to push their message. 

Jonathan Westin, executive director of Climate Defenders, attributes the lack of climate protesters at the RNC to a shift in strategy.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Republican Party is fully owned by the fossil fuel industry,” he said, noting that in the past, the party was more open to environmental policies. “With Trump and the current state of the Republican Party, climate change doesn’t exist.”

Instead, climate groups including Climate Defenders have come together to focus on protesting financial institutions to end financing for fossil fuels, in a series of protests they have dubbed “The Summer of Heat.”

Stevie O’Hanlon, communications director and co-founder of the activist group Sunrise Movement, echoed the strategic pivot. 

“We decided not to go to the RNC and instead, focused on talking to people around the country about how to fix the climate crisis,” he said, adding that his group is still “assessing” whether to protest at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.

A handful of other environmental groups endorsed the Coalition to March on the RNC, which marched in Milwaukee on Monday. Co-chair Omar Flores told CBS News that just over 3,000 people took part, fewer than the roughly 5,000 he was expecting.

Another group, Climate Power, brought its message to the Republican gathering in a different way. 

It commissioned artist Annie Saunders to create a provocative art installation in six storefront windows steps from the RNC, illustrating the harmful consequences of extreme weather events and the influence of the oil and gas industry on politicians.

In one window, four figures are leaned over a conference table, their heads buried in sand. In another, a man struggles to fix an air conditioning unit in a bedroom where heat has melted crayons and a ceiling fan.

“I think we all need to hear this message,” Saunders told CBS News. “It might not be on the agenda of the convention center, but when you walk from the convention center back to your hotel, it’s on the agenda.“

People in MAGA hats stopped by to stare through the windows as she spoke.

Meanwhile, some conservative climate advocates attended the convention as participants and supporters, not protesters. 

Rep. John Curtis, a Republican from Utah and the founder of the 81-member Conservative Climate Caucus in the House of Representatives, was among those who attended a reception on the sidelines of the RNC encouraging more discussion about climate change within the party, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. And the American Conservation Coalition hosted an exhibit depicting the history of conservative environmentalism.

–Tracy Wholf contributed reporting.