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| Rick Santorum speaking at GOP Leadership Conference Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr |
"No GOP candidates or policymakers want to touch the issue, and those of us trying to educate them are left frustrated," Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a registered Republican, told InsideClimate News. "Climate change has become a third rail in politics."
Heading into the 2008 presidential election, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, warned about the dangers of global warming. He was one of a group of moderate Republicans who used to be leading climate action advocates, acknowledging the scientific consensus on climate change and the need for federal policies to address it.
But with the rise of the Tea Party movement in 2009, skepticism or even flat-out denial of global warming has become part of the party's core message. And no candidate now vying for the GOP nomination can admit to the scientific consensus, much less advocate for measures to curb climate-altering emissions, no matter what positions they might have taken in the past.
In fact, past support of policies to regulate carbon dioxide, a global warming gas, is being used to question the fitness of candidates to become the party's nominee. During a speech this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Rick Santorum tore into his GOP presidential rival, former Gov. of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, for buying into man-made warming and supporting the nation's first cap-and-trade program known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Romney later opposed the scheme but Massachusetts did participate, and it has benefited from the nearly $500 million in economic activity the program has brought to the state.
A Tea Party favorite, Santorum has called global warming "a facade," "a hoax" and an example of the "politicization of science." Both Romney and Newt Gingrich, another candidate for the party's nomination, have stepped away from their previous stances that humans are contributing to global warming in order to convince restive voters and donors that they are conservative enough to be the party's luminary.
The GOP's hardening stance in favor of climate skepticism, however, is not reflected among the country's leading scientists, no matter the party. Roughly 98 percent of U.S. climate researchers are convinced that rising emissions from human activities is hastening climate change, according to a 2010 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
While it's rare for scientists to disclose their political affiliations, InsideClimate News tracked down a handful of leading climate and environmental scientists who have done so and are registered Republican or have a majority of their values in line with the party. All accept the consensus that Earth is warming mainly from the buildup of greenhouse gases produced from the burning of fossil fuels. And all say their attempts to talk with GOP politicians and their aides about climate dangers have largely fallen on deaf ears. Calls and emails to the campaigns of Santorum, Romney and Gingrich for comment were not returned.
Scientists tell their stories: GOP Not Listening to Its Own Scientists on Climate Change
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Maybe the scientists should reach out to Democrats and if the Republican party is playing deaf than they should support the party that supports them. Climate change is inevitable. What we do about it is our choice.
ReplyDeleteWell stated, Andy. The results of global warming are all around us, you just have to read, look, and listen for yourself. The economics of alternative energy are also inevitable, as well as staggering. I am amazed at how the "dark side" of the global warming issue (is no longer a debate)were able to convince the Republicans that it is a hoax. Are they really so blind? Who are these people? As anyone exposed them as a group?
ReplyDeleteNothing like willful ignorance to guide public policy.
ReplyDeleteI think it is about time all presidential candidates take an IQ test along with a lie detector test.
It is more than a little sad that these people are willing to destroy their children's and the worlds future for a four year political gain and to sooth their over inflated egos
Republicans also do not want to hear from scientists who have created any remedial technologies to offer that would create jobs, heal global warming etc. I'll forward a letter I sent to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback which went unanswered to those who request it by email to LBlevins@aaecorp.com with the words info on brownback in the subject line.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should single out the Republicans on this. What have the Dems done to remediate this problem? There is a systemic problem in Washington of influence peddling. whether that is from insurance companies for healthcare reform, large solar companies for alternative energy, or petroleum companies for energy policy.
ReplyDeleteGlobal warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it, is part of the natural geologic cycle. The argument centers on the possibility of human influence. This shouldn't be an issue of politics, but has been made one by the religion of environmentalism. The so-called green energy remedies for global warming are nothing more than wealth redistrubution disguised as a cure. Wind farms, solar, blah, blah, blah will not account for the energy needs of a growing world. If these alternatives are as beneficial as they are purported to be, why do we need to entice people to use them by providing taxpayer funded subsidies? If the alternatives are that good there would be a waiting list for the Chevy Volt and roof-top solar panels. Incentives to purchase these products are nothing more than license to disengage your brain and feel good about taking a handout from your fellow taxpayers. Wake up people. We are being played by BOTH sides of the aisle.
ReplyDeleteThis is such left wing political hack. If global warming turns out to be real, the idea that the USA would punish itself economically while China and India ignore the issue is a non-starter. And we all know the Democrat solution. which is to domestically overtax small business owners to increase revenues for a bloated and waste/scandal ridden EPA and federal government. Worse than that is the UN ploy that Obama has tried where US taxpayers are bilked to send their money via taxes to other countries. That right liberal elitists. Until we hear actual proof WITH a solution that does not involve increased regulation and wealth redistribution, we are turning a deaf ear.
ReplyDeleteLet's leave politics aside for the moment. The science is irrefutable and has been for over 30 years. It is simple physics. Greenhouse gas concentrations have increased exponentially since the industrial revolution and much of the contribution is from man-made sources. These gases insulate the planet keeping heat from escaping the atmosphere and radiating back out into space. Consequently, the average temperature is steadily going up.
ReplyDeleteAs for solutions, we all need to act together, democrats, republicans and everyone else to reduce emissions and stabilize the concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions at levels well below where current emission rates are taking us. Otherwise, we all lose. Americans, Chinese, Indians...everyone. Climate change is real and contributing to solutions does not take draconian measures that will kill the economy. That is a myth. The federal government and private entities need to accelerate investment in low carbon, sustainable, renewable and clean energy forms. We can do it but have to start taking significant, unilateral action soon!