Many members in the Republican Party fail to acknowledge that global warming is anything more than a natural occurrence or an act of God, not a man-made phenomenon that can only be reversed with man-made regulations and effort.
According to CNN’s meteorologist Chad Meyers, a blizzard is bearing down on the northeast area and it may hit on the 35th anniversary of a similar snowstorm that killed over 100 people and did $500 billion in damages. The approaching storm is anticipated to blow in on 50 mph winds and drop huge amounts of snow that will be measured in feet instead of inches. Meyers said it will most likely close interstate highways and knockout power to thousands.
This week, Marco Rubio (R-FL) was chosen to give the GOP response to Obama’s State of the Union address. Rubio is the current GOP darling and possible presidential contender, who told an audience on Tuesday’s BuzzFeed that climate always changes and the science isn’t settled, because he has “seen reasonable debate” over whether humans are causing climate change. The talking points were reflective of what’s already been promoted by Mitt Romney during his campaign and by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Rubio went on to mirror an NRA-style argument that laws won’t make a difference on climate change, so why bother?
Rubio’s naïve argument against regulating greenhouse emissions in the United States included a weird assertion that America is “a country, not a planet.” Evidently Rubio believes that tons of methane C02 gases launched into the air from tailpipes and smokestacks from US industries don’t get caught in atmospheric wind drifts and vise-versa from China, India and other nations. It was a fair assessment that China and India are big polluters, but the implication they aren’t interested in doing anything about it was wrong and unsubstantiated.
For example, China currently leads the world in solar panel sales.
Amazingly, Rubio contends that carbon regulations would be more economically disastrous to the US than impacts of climate change.
However, just one study on Rubio's home state of Florida tells how economically devastating climate change and rising seas are anticipated to be by the end of the 21st century if it remains unchecked, with losses up to $345 billion from, “tourism losses, hurricane damages, real estate losses and increased costs of electricity generation. By comparison, climate action imposes little cost.”
Vice President Joe Biden met with Francoise Hollande Monday to reaffirm the Obama administration’s “committed” to a “united effort” to tackling climate change in Obama’s second term, on behalf of “young people in both our countries.”
Furthermore, climate hawk John Kerry was sworn in as secretary of state to take over for Hillary Clinton and this is what he had to say about climate action at his confirmation hearing:
The solution to climate change is energy policy. And, the opportunities of energy policy so vastly outweigh the downsides that you’re expressing concerns about … You want to do business and do it well in America, you have to get into the energy race … I would respectfully say to you that climate change is not something to be feared in response to—the steps to respond to—it’s to be feared if we don’t … I will be a passionate advocate on this not based on ideology but based on facts and science. This $6 trillion market is worth millions of American jobs and we better go after it.
A recent Yale study shows that climate regulation is a political winner. But as the Republican Party vows to listen more to the changing American electorate and “rebrand” itself, it appears to be rolling out the same repackaged unprincipled policies. In addition to questioning the majority of scientific research that shows climate change is “unequivocally caused by human activity,” Rubio also voted last week not to approve the Violence Against Women Act.
The GOP is not showing sincere effort to remake itself. It’s showing nothing but more of the same in a younger package. In the words of Sarah Palin, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.
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