R Senators; "We All Believe Climate Change Is Real"; IPCC Report "Produced Shrugs And Blank Stares"

[hatrack]

A group of 10 Senate Republicans held a Capitol Hill press conference this week to complain about rising energy prices, but it was a line from Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso that stood out for me: "We all believe climate change is real. We believe mankind is certainly contributing to that....We want to make sure the American people have affordable energy and we want to make energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can."

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At this point, as the climate crisis intensifies, standards for GOP politicians are so low that a simple acknowledgement like Barrasso's assertions on Wednesday looks like a breakthrough. Motivations, however, matter. I'm reminded of a New York Times report from June that said, "[M]any in the Republican Party are coming to terms with what polls have been saying for years: Independents, suburban voters and especially young Republicans are worried about climate change and want the government to take action." In other words, some GOP officials are prepared to pay lip service to global warming, not because of the planetary threat, but because failing to make such acknowledgements might interfere with the party's electoral prospects.

EDIT

I wish it were that simple. Yes, Barrasso acknowledged reality. Yes, the Republican senators around him went along with his simple declaration. But "belief" in the reality of climate change isn't nearly enough. From the Times' report in June: A package of bills [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy] introduced on Earth Day championed carbon capture.... It also promoted tree planting and expansion of nuclear energy, a carbon-free power source that many Republicans prefer over wind or solar energy. Those policies would do little to reduce the fossil fuel emissions that are driving up average global temperatures and causing more extreme heat, drought and wildfires; more intense storms; and rapid extinction of plant and wildlife species. Republicans have not offered any specific targets for cutting emissions.

Two months later, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a terrifying report, which generated shrugs and blank stares from GOP lawmakers.

EDIT

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-senate-gop-leader-said-we-all-believe-climate-change-n1282716

[rampartc]

1. i think i understand theur point.

they do not think it is their problem, that it is up to the states (remember their covid response "that is not my responsibility" trump) or the private sector to take care of it.

they are, of course, wrong, which is a reason they must be soundly defeated.

[Beartracks]

3. The private sector can't be relied on to solve society's ills, because that's not what it excels at.

Think of 1930's rural electrification, one of my favorite examples. It was not at all profitable for investor-owned utilities to build out transmission and generation to bring power to the vast parts of America that didn't have it. But once the government got it accomplished, there were vast new markets of citizens needing electric products -- think dishwashers and sewing machines and refrigerators -- that the net benefit of the government program was an enormous economic boon to the national economy. And these new markets benefitted... the private sector. So there's a role for each to play, both public and private. But at the time, the investor-owned utilities fought the government's rural electrification program. Much like how Republicans think putting power (money, opportunity, education) into the hands of regular Americans is somehow a bad thing.

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[Beartracks]

2. All REAL problems needing solutions just generate shrugs and blank stares from Republicans.

Last edited Mon Nov 1, 2021, 03:47 PM - Edit history (1)

And real SOLUTIONS elicit fierce opposition from Republicans, because they typically don't involve siphoning money to billionaires.

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