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Republicans don’t believe in climate change, Obama gives up on green agenda
Image by U.S. Federal Government (public domain)
After last week’s election the U.S. Congress is now a place where climate change is questioned more than feared. According to ThinkProgress.org, a progressive blog by the Center for American Progress, half of the newly elected Republicans don’t believe in man-made climate change while 86 percent of them are against climate change legislation if it costs money to the government.
Back in December 2009, at the COP-15 conference in Copenhagen, President Obama pledged to cut the U.S. emission levels of 2005 by 17 percent by 2020, at least if Congress would pass his climate and energy legislation.
But even before the Republicans took over the House, the task proved to be close to impossible. Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress where not enough for President Obama to get his green agenda going. So now, with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, all will depend on the cooperation of Republicans in Congress and that of the presumed incoming new leader, John Boehner. Unfortunately for President Obama, Boehner is anything but a climate change believer. In an article from the New York Times I read that John Boehner is not shy of abusing and bending basic science to his advantage. One quiet extreme example is the following quote from Boehner, taken from an interview with ABC News (April 2009) where he told the network that:
The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know, when they do what they do, you’ve got more carbon dioxide.
Last Wednesday, President Obama told reporters at the White House that he was giving up his green agenda of comprehensive climate and energy legislation at least until 2012. The cap-and-trade approach of President Obama’s administration is now a thing of the past. Cleaner energy will remain on the agenda, just not because of climate change. Republicans and Democrats will probably find common ground in creating more – green – jobs and providing the U.S. with energy independence by moving away from fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy sources or natural gas. Too bad all of this will be motivated solely by economic concerns and not by environmental ones.
I see a time of climate change denial, science misuse and environmental abuse coming. I’m scared.
Lead image by Lawrence Jackson (for the U.S. Federal Government (public domain).
Tags: barack obama, climate change denial, climate legislation, green agenda, John Boehner, Obama, thinkprogress.org, U.S. congress
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I found @PatM’s comments laughable, but his broken logic is commonly repeated.
“Nothing to fear but fear itself.” That was said about an economic phenomenon, not a natural process. We have plenty to fear, a climate gone rogue — more for our children and their children even than for ourselves (although, when oil peaks even sooner, we’ll experience some fairly unpleasant circumstances).
“Bogus climate-change fearmongering.” It’s good to hear from an expert like Pat that this has all been but an exercise in falsely alarming people. That really puts me at ease. Screw the climate scientists who have devoted their lives to understanding climate change.
“Reality hasn’t matched the hype.” If only there was hype. The scientists have been sadly restrained. Knowing what they do, they should be on the streets. Reality in fact is matching the alarm quite well, with record temperatures and precipitation, floods, droughts, and all the other events that climate scientists have forecast. If anything, reality is running ahead of the predictions. Pat doesn’t pay attention; he or she takes comfort in ignorance.
“ALL THAT IS GOOD.” Nice of you to say so, Pat. As I remarked before, you’re a font of bad faith.
“Representative Boehner was right to point out that CO2 is not a pollutant.” Define “pollutant.” If you mean, will CO2 cause instant death, no, only in a closed garage along with its buddy CO. Will it run riot with the atmosphere, causing prolonged, profound consequences that will turn our civilization on its head? Surely. I consider that pollution, massive pollution of our climatic system. Boehner is an ignoramus. Pat, too.
“Anyone who is ‘scared’ over this turn of events has let base fears overwhelm reason. Nature…” Nature what, Pat? Reason, Pat? What are your reasons for denial? Economic? Just plain piss in your face attitudes? Maybe a sort of masochism, as in “Bring it on! Kick me in the ass!”? Why don’t you try letting reason overwhelm you sometime? I fear you, that’s for sure. And your descendants will curse you.
@Beth,
I agree with you. Giving up like that in public is strange. I’m always looking out for the secret agendas. And I think that’s what’s happening here too. The Republicans will be a touch crowd for President Obama, so he is setting his priorities straight. I suppose economic concerns outrun the environmental ones, although everyone has to agree there won’t be much of an economy left if we bust the planet…
Like the rest of the Democrats, Obama needs to regrow his backbone. Why does he give up publicly like that? If he can’t muster the strength to fight, why can’t he at least hide it?
No big deal. It’s not like the polar caps are melting, right?
While it may be reasonable to be somewhat sceptical about climate change models, these untruths are not based upon reasonable scepticism but outright falsification and distortions of climate change science.
These claims have included assertions that the science of climate change has been completely “debunked” and that there is no evidence of human causation of recent observed warming. There are numerous lines of evidence that point to human causation even if it is not a completely settled matter. Reasonable scepticism cannot claim that there is no evidence of causation and some other claims frequently being made by the well-financed climate change disinformation campaign, and they amount to an utter distortion of a body of evidence that the world needs to understand to protect itself from huge potential harms.
We may not have a word for this type of crime yet, but the international community should find a way of classifying extraordinarily irresponsible scientific claims that could lead to mass suffering as some type of crime against humanity.
A recent poll by Scientific American readers illustrates the overwhelming support that the Republicans will have on this issue. These will be tough times for supporters of GHG regulation.
we have nothing to fear but fear itself. The bogus climate change fearmongering scam did not work. The IPCC claims have been myth-busted and after years of media propaganda, the people remain unconvinced, likely because the reality hasn’t matched the “Global Warming is a crisis” hype. ALL THAT IS GOOD. Rep Boehner is right to point out that CO2 is natural part of the biosphere and not a pollutant. That is the truth about CO2. It’s not harmful.
Anyone who is ‘scared’ over this turn of events has let base fears overwhelm reason. Nature
Lovelocks “solution” to add dimming aerosols into the air will hardly solve anything. We dont kvow the effects of it, but we do know that even if it was succesfull it would not solve the problem of ocean acidification that also comes with increased CO2 emissions.
Luckily there is a cheap and simple way to immediately cool down the Earth: just add a little (more) sun dimming aerosol to the air. This isn’t a magic bullet solution, but it will prevent the Sixth Great Extinction:
“The alternative (to geoengineering) is the acceptance of a massive natural cull of humanity and a return to an Earth that freely regulates itself but in the hot state.” –Dr James Lovelock, August 2008
When are politicians and the general public going to learn that science is not a faith based initiative? Your belief in any scientific matter is irrelevant. The evidence speaks for itself. Any attempt by political groups to deceive the public by fabricating falsehoods in the media that are more convenient for their benefactors is ultimately futile. In the closing words of Richard Feynman on the Challenger investigation “Nature cannot be fooled.”