Climate change deniers are not helping Florida

Article published Sept. 28th, 2010
Tallahassee Democrat
By Andy Opel
MY VIEW

In 2006, bipartisan majorities in California passed AB 32, a law that aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. This law demonstrates a fundamental comprehension of climate change science and the immediate need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Unfortunately, in the state of Florida, some of the candidates running for state and national office continue to deny the human influence on climate change. Climate change deniers such as Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have chosen to align themselves with a rapidly shrinking fringe that questions the international scientific consensus on global warming.

The case for climate change has been made so convincingly, even the world's most infamous global warming skeptic, Bjorn Lomborg, has reversed his criticism, calling climate change an international threat that demands a systematic response funded through a carbon tax.

The Florida politicians who deny climate change are not alone; in fact they are part of a well-funded coalition that promotes the "uncertainty" of climate change.

In the case of California, the now infamous Koch brothers have donated over a million dollars to kill the California climate law, AB 32. This type of short-sighted, self-serving spending is to be expected from people who got rich selling oil and natural gas and hope to defend their industry.

One might think our public officials would resist the impulse to sell out the planet so that billionaires can get richer.

According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Rubio's campaign has taken $21,600 from Koch industries, making them the sixth-largest contributor to his campaign. The Club for Growth, which has donated over $320,000, is a persistent source of climate change denial.

This level of outside interference by non-Floridian money is three times the largest contribution to the Charlie Crist campaign and almost 10 times the largest contribution to the Kendrick Meek campaign.

The Koch brothers and the Club for Growth have no intention of protecting the people of Florida from rising sea levels and dramatic weather changes, both of which are the near-term impacts of climate change.

In the governor's race, Scott has repeatedly stated his denial of anthropogenic climate change, and when I called his office to confirm this position, his staffer said Rick Scott believes "climates change," but not because of humans. This is the modern equivalent of continuing to argue that the Earth is the center of the universe during the early 1600s, after Galileo had proven otherwise.

There are two ways to think about climate change deniers: They are either too uneducated to understand the science behind the phenomena or they are cynical politicians willing to sell short-term snake oil to a anxious public in the midst of a recession.

In either case, we have to ask, are these qualities we want in our civic leaders? Do we really want leaders who do not base policy decisions on sound scientific evidence? Do we really want leaders who put the short-term financial interests of billionaires above the long-term environmental and economic interests of the citizens of Florida?

The California case has demonstrated the potential for technological innovation, as their strict emissions law has spawned more than 150 solar start-ups, making California a leader in renewable energy technology. Florida's climate change deniers appear to want those jobs to stay in California, or even worse, to move to China, where massive clean energy technology investment is likely to make the U.S dependent on Chinese energy technology in the near future.

After reviewing all the websites of the major party candidates in the U.S. Senate and Florida governor's race, Meek turned out to be the only candidate who explicitly addressed the reality of climate change and his support for comprehensive energy reform. Even Crist has backed away from a once forward-leaning position on climate and energy, choosing to avoid any direct mention of climate change on his website.

By delaying any significant carbon emissions legislation, we are limiting Florida's future economic growth while giving China an open door to be the leader in alternative, renewable energy.

Instead of spurring innovation, as the California law has done, climate change deniers have laid out a plan to ship innovation overseas, leaving us clinging to dirty, outdated energy sources and buying clean technology from abroad.

Florida deserves leadership that understands science and will make policy decisions based on data rather than ideology and short-term political gain.