A Republican state senator running for governor of Pennsylvania shared some unusual views this week about what’s causing climate change
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“I believe that the climate is changing every day..."
No, it's not; the WEATHER is changing every day. Climate is a longer-term phenomenon; it doesn't even make sense to talk about the climate on a particular day. Conflating the two is a typical trick motivated by the desire to downplay the significance of the latter.
"and some of that change is certainly man made... the real question isn’t is the climate changing but what role should the government play in trying to alter it."
Let's give him some credit: it's significant progress to get an elected Republican to say the above, if he actually believes it. If we can persuade enough elected Republicans that admitting to the existence of anthropogenic climate change doesn't necessarily imply a particular governmental response to it, maybe at least we can agree on the basic facts and have a reality-based debate about likely impacts and what responses are likely to actually work.
But I'm not optimistic about "reality-based debate" with a guy who tells me "the earth moves closer to the sun every year ― you know, the rotation of the earth."
No, it's not; the WEATHER is changing every day. Climate is a longer-term phenomenon; it doesn't even make sense to talk about the climate on a particular day. Conflating the two is a typical trick motivated by the desire to downplay the significance of the latter.
"and some of that change is certainly man made... the real question isn’t is the climate changing but what role should the government play in trying to alter it."
Let's give him some credit: it's significant progress to get an elected Republican to say the above, if he actually believes it. If we can persuade enough elected Republicans that admitting to the existence of anthropogenic climate change doesn't necessarily imply a particular governmental response to it, maybe at least we can agree on the basic facts and have a reality-based debate about likely impacts and what responses are likely to actually work.
But I'm not optimistic about "reality-based debate" with a guy who tells me "the earth moves closer to the sun every year ― you know, the rotation of the earth."
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