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.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker']
"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.
From CNN Politics
- Harris faces painful Black history in emotional slave outpost visit
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Kentucky law aimed at increasing parental oversight in education takes effect
- New York grand jury won't hear Trump case again this week
- Defense secretary defends abortion policies at center of Senate nomination hold-up
- Justice Department moves to end consent decree with Seattle Police Department
This is what happens, America, when intellectualism is denigrated as "elitism" in this country.
"The President is, he's not a meteorologist."
Nor are you Mr. Rubio...
That wouldn't matter anyway Marco, since the people who study climate are "Climatologists." "Meteorologists" study the weather. "Climatologists" study the climate. They are two very different things.
Learn the first thing about which you speak, and then maybe someone will take you seriously.
BTW, neither of you are climatologists either, so perhaps you should try to learn a thing or two before trying to tell people about that which you obviously know little.
Oh, so just because some politician says it ain't so and all of modern science is junk, I'm supposed to believe him over the rest of the entire world? Really Rubio? Really?
Whoa, Rubio the armchair scientist. No one said EVERY or even most of the severe weather incidents we read about are caused by humans. The science says we are contributing to the change in climate. . You are not a scientist, or meteorologist for that matter. Our contributions to pollution on earth are immense, whether it is on the land, sea or air. There is tremendous economic opportunity in the climate field, recycling field, as well as the alternative energy field. If you choose to ignore this you are a hypocrite. If you believe cleaning up the environment is less important than you and your corporate buddies making a profit, how dare you put your greed ahead of your children's future?
Don't listen ta dem dare scientists. Thars unedgemcated!
Rubio is amazing. He says "The President is, he's not a meteorologist." Nor is Rubio. Rubio then says "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." Who then should be the arbiter of this issue - politicians? lobbyists? Hopefully (and fortunately), voters will reject Rubio as a presidential candidate should the Republicans be foolish enough to continue to live in the dark ages.
These Flat Earth dullards have no business criticizing mountains of scientific evidence or running any government institution. When did stupidity become a virtue?
ALL GOP legislators should be required to take classes on global climate change so they can be up-to-date on our world's environmental changes. It's no wonder the U.S. is no longer a world leader in education. These closed minds hinder progress in understanding what's happening globally.
Further proof that being a politician has no minimum IQ requirement.
Sounds like Rick Santorums replacement Sorry but i could never vote for a leader of the best country in the world who does not believe in sciance
Where did Rubio study science? Anyway, it's climatologist, not meteorologist. The President is not a climatologist. I like the way he calls scientific peer review " the way these scientists are portraying it" Yeah.
And does he have the data to prove what he said, or disprove what the believers say, today? Probably, not. In this day and age of data driven dialogs, just saying anything, w/o solid proof, to gain admiration from a particular section of voters, probably is loosely defined as demagoguery.
A thousand scientist study warming of the climate and concluded humans are contributing. Rubio, a non-scientist says it ain't so. Who you believe says a lot about the quality of your gene pool.
Of course all the scientists are wrong! It's only science and they've only studied it for years! He's a politician with corporate donors to appease, so of course he is correct!
So climate change exists! now what can we do about it?
The biggest threat to our economy is the GOP.
I find climate deniers to be astonishing. They live in a world of magic and superstition where there is no place for science. It's weird that republicans have decided that this is an issue to challenge. Climate change is not a political issue, it's an issue that anyone living on Earth should be concerned about.
What is Rubio basing his opinions on ? The fact is the earth has been spinning for millions of years, some of those years with extremely bad weather. That's what planets experience. Global weather phenomena occurs in very long cycles which can last many years. Humans will have to adapt the best they can.
It is amazing that the political and media consensus on AGW has progressed to the point that sane statements on the subject, such as those by Rubio can be quoted by the media as an indication he isn't qualified to be President. None of the politicians nor media who push this consensus idea have even looked and any of the underlying science, nor are they even able to understand basic scientific concepts.
The scientists who are paid to support AGW have used secrecy as their primary tool and still have been caught over and over again falsifying results. Scientists who disagree are prevented from publishing or teaching and treated as not reputable, simple because by definition all "reputable" scientists support AGW. The knee jerk leftist reaction to the billions spent by governments to get scientists to support AGW is the claim that oil companies are spending on the other side. That claim is treated as gospel despite a total lack of actual instances of such spending.
"I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy,"
Rubio, this week's GOP poster boy for the ignorant, and if it was up to him we would not do anything about it because "it will destroy our economy", and this guy "thinks" he is presidential material....Thank God that the educated, intelligent majority of this country thinks differently.
Nice spin there Rubio, not to conservative about our planet I see. Of course climate change has been there before the human race. The problem is the human race is accelerating climate change by almost 100%. So basically IF our planet was supposed to melt down from climate change in 2 thousand years with our current trend if we don't fix it, this melt down would only take 1 thousand years. It is a matter of perspective I suppose, but I'm willing to be if you try fixing things later rather than sooner, your options to fix the problem also greatly decrease. Typical hypocrisy from the GOP and loosening regulations to make more money from coal and oil that are destroying our planet. Mr. Rubio should watch the episode of Cosmos about climate change.
Republicans remain on the wrong side of history on so many issues and they wonder why they continue to lose national elections.
I would like to demand a test to see if Rubio is crazy or not. Anyone else second this motion?
Of course Rudio is now a climate Scientist . You future grandchildren will call you a what you really are Rudio, just a politician with absolutely No Knowledge of Climate Change
Scientific research > idiocracy