Rubio says humans aren't behind climate change
Washington (CNN) - Sen. Marco Rubio says he doesn't believe humans are causing climate change and doesn't think any action can reverse course.
This as a new White House report indicated that Rubio's home state of Florida is one of the most vulnerable to rising sea levels.
"I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it," the first term senator said Sunday on ABC "This Week," after being asked by ABC News' Jon Karl whether humans were contributing to the heating up of the planet.
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"I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy," added Rubio, who's seriously considering a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Rubio says he's ready to be commander-in-chief
Rubio's latest comments are similar to what he said on CNN last week.
"I think severe weather has been a fact of life on earth since man started recording history. I understand that there's a vast consensus of scientists that are saying that human activity is what's contributing to changes in our climate. I think it's an enormous stretch to say that every weather incident that we read about or the majority of them are attributable to human activity," Rubio told CNN's Bill Weir Tuesday on "CNN Tonight."
Rubio's comments come as President Barack Obama's administration last week declared, unequivocally, that climate change is underway across the United States. The U.S. National climate Assessment Report, released last Tuesday, offered a dire assessment of the impact of climate change, and named Miami as the city most vulnerable to damage from rising sea levels. The report was criticized by many Republican lawmakers.
The U.S. isn't alone in raising serious concerns. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change came to the conclusion that humans are behind global warming.
In his CNN interview, Rubio knocked the administration's report and criticized the President's efforts on the issue of climate change. Obama has proposed new programs to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, which most scientists say are the major cause of global warming.
"The President is, he's not a meteorologist. Here's what the President needs to be focused on. He's proposing a certain set of policies that he would have to admit if questioned will do nothing. If in fact these scientists are right and it's greenhouse gas emissions that are changing our climate, none of the things he's proposing would do anything to change that whatsoever, but it would have a devastating impact on our economy.
The most recent national polling on climate chanted indicated that a majority of Americans said humans were causing global warming. According to a Gallup poll conducted in early March, 57% of the public said human activities were behind global warming, with four in ten saying natural changes were causing the earth to heat up.
Fifty-four percent of those questioned in the survey said the effects of global warming were already happening. But less than four in ten said that global warming would pose a threat to their way of life.
The poll indicated a major partisan divide, with a majority of Democrats saying they worried a great deal about global warming, but more than six in ten Republicans saying they worried only a little bit or not at all about climate change.
But we are totally sure that God is real though... Don't you dare skimp on that church tax... I mean collection plate.
" I understand that there's a vast consensus of scientists that are saying that human activity is what's contributing to changes in our climate." Says Rubio, "but I got it from Michele Bachmann that the scientist are all stoopid and she is the world's smartest person. She really knows, she is smarter than me."
Seriously, I don't believe that Obama was really qualified to be the president, just that he was more so than McCain or Romney. But Rubio's qualifications, based on statements like this don't make him qualified to be a burger flipper.
Look at how many humans occupy the earth and how many times per day that one humane releases methane to the upper atmosphere. We are causing the earth to warm. Get out those plugs.
I was considering to vote for Rubio in the future. Now after this, there is not way!
He says Obama is not a "meterologist". Neither is Rubio a scientist. Meterologists are not even the correct scientists to be mentioning here, its climatologists. Rubio should give sound reasons to back up his "belief" otherwise its worthless talk. This highlights the reason the US is so screwed up – because people follow "beliefs" rather than facts. If Rubio had facts, he would have presented them.
Okay...so Mr.Rubio, you claim that if climate change is happening because of mankind and President Obama's regulations aren't going to do anything...what would you end up doing? It sounds like you would just keep contributing to the problem.
One day I hope to actually hear a plan from Republicans on something, anything, that can withstand even 2 seconds of scrutiny.
This is like a person looking outside at a forest fire that has surrounded their home and saying, "Well, I didn't create that fire. Why should I go out and spend money fighting it?"
"I think it's an enormous stretch to say that every weather incident that we read about or the majority of them are attributable to human activity." Wow. Apparently, Rubio doesn't know the difference between an individual event and an average trend. He needs to go back to remedial statistics, since this is day 1 material.
"The President is, he's not a meteorologist." Uh, I don't even know where to begin with this one. Meteorologists are not climate scientists. There's a difference. Meteorologists report the current weather, climate scientists study the long term trends in global climate. If he doesn't know this, he has no business being a U. S. senator. But let's assume he meant "climate scientist". I'd like to point out that he isn't one either, hence his views on climate science have no validity.
Typical for the GOP. They deny cause and effect. Billions of tons of pollutants released into the atmosphere is not harmless. The exact extent on global warming is unknown, however, the effects on human health are reason enough to curb emissions.
If Rubio had a doctorate in climatology and had spent the last two decades researching climate change he wouldn't hold the uninformed opinion that does. Politicians who do not have advanced degrees in scientific fields are no more qualified to advise the public on scientific matters than they are to diagnose sick people and tell them to ignore what their doctors are telling them, that everything's going to be all right, that they can go on smoking and drinking and not worry about their health.
The symptoms of global warming are everywhere. Perhaps Rubio hasn't noticed. The climate has gone off the rails. We will be witnessing more and more weather catastrophes in the coming years like the ones we are experiencing now. Computer models back in the 1990's predicted many of the weather extremes we have been seeing lately, and the more modern versions predict that they will increase at an increasing rate. They also predict that Florida will be the first state to disappear as sea level rises. Perhaps Floridians who would like their grandchildren and great grandchildren to be able to visit the towns they grew up in without diving gear should remind Mr. Rubio that becoming ocean floor is going to be a lot worse for Florida's economy than cutting back on CO2 emissions now.
@2Sliqq " He has now officallly and publicly proven himself an idiot."
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At least we now know which party is the "official idiot" approver. Good job! Only you would know.
I wish he would offer up the scientific reports he reads so that the rest of us can be as enlightened as he is.
1. Man made climate change is real
2. No one has been able to quantify the amount man has changed the climate or will in the future
3. No US law is going to effect global climate change with 1.5 billion Chinese and nearly 2 billion Indians on this planet
4. There is a very real economic cost to these policies which will do nothing but put money in "green" company and politician pockets
DUMB...and I mean him
Moron. Those who put him in office and keep him in office are accessories to a Moron.
Yes, I really do want someone like Marco Rubio to lead this country. Too bad he is not a Maryland Senator.
Just another idiot with his head in the sand...
There is no clinical evidence that dramatic, global weather changes are systemically caused by humans. The "recent" data originally cited by the "consensus of scientists" has been demonstrated as flawed–manipulated to achieve a predetermined outcome. The older data cited relies on antiquated measuring devices and techniques that have no scientific credibility.
Something people tend to forget about. CO2 levels have been increasing for over 100-years. But the global temperature has leveled out over the past 15-years. With all the conjecture about the impact of CO2 on the environment, the past 15-years of increased CO2 output has not influenced the climate.
Ironically, just yesterday I posted the following Facebook meme: "Plot idea: 97% of the world's scientists contrive an elaborate environmental crisis scheme, but are exposed by a plucky band of billionaires and oil companies."
How timely.
How come you never see a published list of the 97% of scientists? How many of those scientists are receiving Gov't funds to study climate change? How many of the scientists were involved in Climategate and were cooking the books to make things look worse than they really were? Why doesn't the media report any of the answer to those questions?
How in the world could anyone vote for this man? Has he ever taken a science class? If you believe the world is flat, he is your candidate.
Well. If global warming is all due to natural climate changes and not, say, fossil-fuel power plants in Kansas, I guess Florida will have to foot the whole bill when Miami starts to flood at high tide.
After all, why should taxpayers smart enough to live in Kansas pay for Floridians desire to live by the seashore?
Fair is fair, Rubio. Don't go crying to the feds for disaster money when it happens.
Does he not realize Florida will be the first state underwater when the oceans rise enough? Gold coast will become the soggy shores.
Failed comedian, he.
We simply can not afford to listen to climate change deniers any longer.
His BELEIFS do not correspond with the FACTS.
Listening to this fool will doom us all!