Why Republicans' "Response" On Global Warming Is Unmitigated 100-Proof Market-Tested Bullshit
For decades, Republican politicians followed the lead of their benefactors in the oil, gas and coal industries by denying that global warming was occurring, despite mounting scientific evidence otherwise. Instead, they attacked the science and scientists. Then, as glaiers melted, sea levels rose, heat waves scorched millions of people worldwide, and weather extremes unleashed killer hurricanes, floods and fires, many of those politicians took another cue from industry. They decided global warming is real, but part of a natural cycle.
Meanwhile, new scientific research continued to confirm that global warming is triggered mainly by humans burning fossil fuels and must be addressed immediately. However, congressional Republicans and their industry friends have sought to water down or scrap Democrat-proposed comprehensive climate change legislation. Many of the once-deniers now acknowledge the problem. But they say they don’t want to harm the economy just because worldwide record heat waves, drought, floods, and wildfires – made worse by global warming – are becoming the new normal, or just because July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded.
We need more time, Republicans say. Let’s not rush into a national legislative commitment on behalf of the planet, even if the scientists, who have been right all along, warn we are running out of time. Besides, Democrats’ climate plans are too costly.
Money wasn’t a problem for the Republican-led effort that handed big tax cuts to our wealthiest residents and corporations in 2017. But mitigating the deadly effects of a warming planet is somehow too expensive. In fact, disasters fueled by climate change cost hundreds of billions of dollars yearly. For example, financial services firm Morgan Stanley reported in 2019 that such disasters cost the world’s nations $650 billion the previous three years, with North America paying $415 billion of that total. And it will get worse.
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https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/09/23/opinion-gop-responses-climate-change-and-covid-19-disastrous/5794531001/