Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

by Arlie Russell Hochschild

As for threats to coastal Louisiana from climate change, no one they voted for thought it was real. Republican governor Jindal had called climate change a “Trojan horse” from which would emerge a new horde of government regulators. Lee Sherman thought the idea of climate change was “a bunch of hooey.” It was a big state idea. It evoked liberal fear, not conservative suspicion and bravado. But Harold and Annette and Mike Tritico bent over their Bibles, from time to time in the Arenos’ living room, to study the book of Revelation, chapter 11, verse 18. There it was written that God would bring ruin to those who ruin the earth. In the book of Mark, chapter 13, verse 19, they also found “For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again.” Through these passages, the three brought their faith to bear on the issue of climate change and, given his training in marine biology, Mike brought science to it. Together they worked out that climate change was, indeed, a man-made disaster-in-waiting that called for strong countermeasures. In the climate of opinion around them, they were brave to do so. But their concern raised the question: how could repairs be made? On that, the Bible gave them clearer answers than politics did.