I still voted for Trump . It ' s interesting that you describe yourself as a libertarian because Trump ' s brand of conservatism is decidedly not libertarian . I ' m fairly LibertarianSmall government Republican , and I differ on Environmental issues . I think a lot of Republicans actually feel this way deep down , as do many economists who tend to lean Republican when it comes to issues like trade , taxes , and many other forms of economic regulation . Environmental regulation tends to be a little different because pollution creates externalities against unconsenting third parties . The fact that polluters don ' t internalize all of the costs of their activities gives them an incentive to overproduce the activities they engage in . It ' s hard to deter pollution through tort law , because not every plaintiff will be able to sue successfully for a variety of reasons . In fact , very few will be able to bring successful lawsuits which will curtail overproduction of pollution . Instead , it ' s easier just to cap the offending activity or tax it . For that reason , most economists support a carbon tax .