You don't have to be a scientist to understand what's (presumably) taught in remedial science.
That's why the "I'm not a scientist" refrain, popular among GOP presidential contenders, can be so migraine-inducing.
Scientists and non-scientists who like science got a bit of relief from that today — though the emphasis should be on "a bit."
One of the top non-scientists running for the Republican nomination for the presidency, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, has broken away from his party's tendency to avoid comment on whether they think empirical science proves that climate change exists, and that humans are at least partially at fault for a massive excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Here's what Bush told Bloomberg in an interview that ran today:
"The climate is changing; I don’t think anybody can argue it’s not. Human activity has contributed to it."
Excellent...right?
Hold on.
Bush neglected to take the next step, which was to admit that we should perhaps try to cut back on the ol' bubblin' crude. Or China should. You could at least blame their careless fossil fuel consumption.
I think we have a responsibility to adapt to what the possibilities are without destroying our economy, without hollowing out our industrial core.
I think it’s appropriate to recognize this and invest in the proper research to find solutions over the long haul but not be alarmists about it. We should not say the end is near, not deindustrialize the country, not create barriers for higher growth, not just totally obliterate family budgets, which some on the left advocate by saying we should raise the price of energy so high that renewables then become viable.
He went on to say he supports the Keystone Pipeline and thinks President Obama's veto was purely political. Bush is also not a fan of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and says the EPA in general barely acts within its legal limits. Government, he adds, should step out of the way of the free market, which would NEVER eschew renewable energy just because it cuts into profits.
So, basically, he thinks the problem is real and that humans caused it to some degree, but that an unregulated free market that still builds infrastructure for fossil fuels will do much more to reduce the impending impacts of climate change than a concerted effort among the private and public sectors.
Got it.
Baby steps, people.
Find the rest of that interview here.
