Oops. Moderate Republicans lament GOP climate change denial

[babylonsister]

Stay tuned. Who knew there were cooler heads and some rational minds in the gop? :popcorn:

Moderate Republicans lament GOP climate change denial
By Ben Geman - 11/19/10 02:42 PM ET


It’s not quite an outright backlash yet, but some GOP moderates are beginning to publicly attack the widespread climate skepticism in their party’s ranks.

Former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) — who led the House Science Committee from 2001 to 2006 — took his party to task in a Friday Washington Post column headlined “Science the GOP can’t wish away.”

“Watching the raft of newly elected GOP lawmakers converge on Washington, I couldn't help thinking about an issue I hope our party will better address. I call on my fellow Republicans to open their minds to rethinking what has largely become our party's line: denying that climate change and global warming are occurring and that they are largely due to human activities,” writes Boehlert, whose post-Congress work includes advising the Project on Climate Science.

He later adds: “There is a natural aversion to more government regulation. But that should be included in the debate about how to respond to climate change, not as an excuse to deny the problem's existence. The current practice of disparaging the science and the scientists only clouds our understanding and delays a solution.”

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/130171-moderate-republicans-lament-gop-climate-change-denial

[hadrons]

1. "moderate' Republicans are spineless when standing up to...

the wingnuts and for all their skepticism they go along with the nuts in the end

[Eryemil]

2. How are they any different from moderate Democrats in that regard? n|t

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I'm as cynical as they come

but I still hold out hope for an awakening that will diminish the efforts of denialists. Besides, there may be Republicans who recognize the potential for money to be made from alternative energy sources & energy-saving technologies - those who aren't wholly-owned entities of Big Oil & Big Gas, etc. THAT's the cynic in me speaking, BTW, but not so cynical that I can't sense a 'sea change' about to occur.

[rasputin1952]

6. I've helped change many a mind in my corner of a very...

conservative part of Nebraska. I use what I call my "Rule of Exponentials", what ever is added to naturally occurring injects into the atmosphere, that cannot be taken up through natural processes must add to what is in the atmosphere thereby causing change. When one adds thousands of acres threes being cut down w/o any attempt to restore the area, we reach another exponential that could have been avoided relatively easily, say harvest every third tree as opposed to devastating a entire region w/o much of a chance for recovery for a very long period of time.

Anyway, people seem to "get it" when the science is "dumbed down" a bit. It's the same thing with renewable energy sources, what happens when that last drop of oil is gone, what do you do then? People are starting to realize that finite sources of energy will eventually be used up and gone, leaving future generations with a denuded earth and little else. Without renewable forms of energy, add in an exploding population, climate change and a host of other problems, (many of which can be avoided with relative ease), we are on a collision course with catastrophe. One need not have a PhD to see and understand that we are facing extremely serious challenges, and even most R's aren't stupid enough to just keep going on as we have been.

Knowledge is power...even the conservatives know that, as ignorant as many of them are.

[Cosmocat]

5. Yep ...

the party is ALL in with the nuts right now, and the occassional blip of rational thought seeps through from time to time, but will QUICKLY be swallowed hole by the sound machine - tax cuts to the rich create jobs, don't you know ...

[greymattermom]

4. Florida condos

I hope a lot of them own property on the beach in Naples. They should also deny federal flood insurance to low lying areas near the coast.

[The Doctor.]

7. I'm amazed at how easily these people can hold logical conflicts together in order

to indulge in their denial.

"There is no Global Warming, and the Global Warming right now is not out fault."

[Warren Stupidity]

8. moderate republican? huh?

no such animal.

[Me.]

9. Wait Till They Find Out The Us Is Facing A Possible Global Boycott

because of carbon emissions

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9596105

[StarsInHerHair]

10. yeah, it's been in the 80s recently in Nov in Northern California

& my oranges are only now turning orange-they require cold nights to sweeten/ripen. In the future there may be some seasons where oranges may not ripen naturally, & that's the least of the damage of Global Warming. The GOP has made hating science fashionable with some.