Last updated on: 9/2/2015 10:06:23 AM PST
Is Human Activity Primarily Responsible for Global Climate Change?
Pro (Yes)
Pro
"Climate change is one of the most serious challenges we face. It's real, it's driven by human activity, and it's happening right now. We need to use every tool we have to combat climate change and accelerate the transition to a clean energy future. We can't wait any longer—and we definitely can't wait for Congress to pass new legislation. That's why I've set bold national goals for fighting climate change. And on my very first day in office, I'll get to work achieving them."
Source: Hillary Clinton, "What Is Hillary Clinton's Plan to Tackle Climate Change?," quora.com, May 18, 2016
Pro
"I accept the fact that there is global warming and I accept the fact that it's man caused. That said, I am opposed to cap and trade. I'm a free market guy when it comes to the clean environment the number-one factor when it comes to the clean environment is a good economy."
Source: Tim Dickinson, "Meet Gary Johnson, the GOP's Invisible Candidate," rollingstone.com, June 15, 2011
Pro
"It is the US and major industrialized countries that are primarily responsible for climate change. We have both a moral and legal responsibility to compensate other countries for the damages we have inflicted and to enable them to find sustainable paths to development that will raise their standards of living...
It's time for the people of all nations - whose future is being sacrificed by the failure of COP21 - to demand that their leaders live up to their responsibilities for protecting us from climate change. We must insist that the polluting engines of planetary destruction be replaced by the clean, sustainable, just economy that we truly deserve. We must take our future into our own hands, and give our children a livable world."
Source: David Doonan, "Stein: UN Process Has Failed to Save Climate: People Must Act," gp.org, Dec. 10, 2015
|
Con (No)
Con
"You look back and they were calling it global cooling and global warming and global everything, but you look back and the biggest tornados were in the 1890s, the biggest hurricanes were in the 1860s and 1870s. It's weather. You're going to have bad weather. So often I watch the evening newscasts and every time there is a rainstorm some place, and then they wonder why they don't do well, they say, 'It's raining here and it's raining there,' usually leading the program. I call it weather. Maybe there's a little bit of change, I don't happen to believe it’s manmade."
Source: Palin Update, "Guest Donald Trump Part One...," mamagrizzlyradio.com, Aug. 3, 2015
|
|
FORMER CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear below in black and white and in alphabetical order.)
Pro (Yes)
Pro
"I'm prepared to take the scientists at their word, scientists say climate change is man-made. But the problem is we never finish the scientists' sentence, because the rest of what the scientists all agree on is a single nation acting alone can make no difference at all. So why would we destroy all these jobs with regulation when the answer to climate change is innovation, not regulation."
Source: Late Night with Seth Meyers, YouTube.com, May 6, 2015
Pro
"Climate change is real, detrimental and human caused. As a nation we need to do much more to address its causes and consequences. We have an obligation to future generations to do so."
Source: Facebook post, facebook.com/MartinOMalley, Dec. 10, 2012
Pro
"The scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us that climate change is real, that it is caused by human activity and carbon emissions, that it is already causing devastating problems not only in the United States but all over the world in terms of drought, forest fires, flooding, extreme weather disturbances, and rising sea levels, at this moment when the scientific community is so clear about the dangers inherent upon a further dependence on fossil fuels, it is absolutely imperative for the future wellbeing of this country that we listen to the scientists and we begin the path forward to break our dependency on fossil fuel."
Source: Library of Congress, "A Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline," thomas.loc.gov, Nov. 18, 2014
|
Con (No)
Con
"If you look at global warming alarmists, they don't like to look at the actual facts and the data. The satellite data demonstrate that there has been no significant warming whatsoever for 17 years. Now that's a real problem for the global warming alarmists. Because all those computer models on which this whole issue was based predicted significant warming, and yet the satellite data show it ain't happening...
I read this morning a Newsweek article from the 1970s talking about global cooling. And it said the science is clear, it is overwhelming, we are in a major cooling period, and it's going to cause enormous problems worldwide...
Now, the data proved to be not backing up that theory. So then all the advocates of global cooling suddenly shifted to global warming, and they advocated it's warming, and the solution interestingly enough was the exact same solution -- government control of the energy sector and every aspect of our lives...
On the global warming alarmists, anyone who actually points to the evidence that disproves their apocalyptical claims, they don't engage in reasoned debate. What do they do? They scream, 'You're a denier.' They brand you a heretic. Today, the global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-Earthers. It used to be [that] it is accepted scientific wisdom the Earth is flat, and this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier."
Source: Jay Root and Todd Wiseman, "Video: One-on-One Interview with Ted Cruz," texastribune.org, Mar. 24, 2015
|
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"The climate is changing; I don't think anybody can argue it's not. Human activity has contributed to it. 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.
U.S. emissions of greenhouse gasses are down to the same levels emitted in the mid-1990s, even though we have 50 million more people. A big reason for this success is the energy revolution which was created by American ingenuity—not federal regulations."
Source: Bloomberg BNA, "Jeb Bush Takes Positions on Climate Change, EPA Rules, Other Energy Issues," bna.com, July 30, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Whether we are experiencing global warming or a coming ice age, which was predicted the 1970s, we as responsible human beings must be concerned about our surroundings and what we will pass on to future generations. However, to use climate change as an excuse not to develop our God-given resources makes little sense. Expanding our wealth of energy resources, as well as encouraging development of new renewable energy sources, can provide an enormous economic lift with obvious benefits, but it can also bolster our role as a formidable player in the struggle for world leadership."
Source: Ben Carson, "CARSON: Expanding Our Energy Resources Serves Peace," www.washingtontimes.com, Mar. 25, 2014
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"I think global warming is real. I don't think that's deniable. And I do think human activity contributes to it."
Source: Aliyah Frumin, "Chris Christie in New Hampshire: ‘Global Warming Is Real,'" msnbc.com, May 7, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"You know, when it comes to climate change being real, people of my party are all over the board… I said that it's real, that man has contributed to it in a substantial way."
Source: David Knowles, "Lindsey Graham Blames Republicans (and Al Gore) for Climate Change Inaction," bloomberg.com, Mar. 24, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Whether it's man made or not, I know that when I was in college I was being taught that if we didn't act very quickly, that we were going to be entering a global freezing... Go back and look at the covers of TIME and Newsweek from the early '70s. And we were told that if we didn't do something by 1980, we'd be popsicles.
Now we're told that we're all burning up. Science is not as settled on that as it is on some things."
Source: Meet the Press, "Huckabee: 'Science Is Not as Settled' on Climate Change," www.nbcnews.com, June 21, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Well, I think that man absolutely affects the environment. But as to whether, you know, what the impact is, the overall impact, I think that's a legitimate debate. But what I do think is, you know, in my state of Ohio, you know, we preciously take care of Lake Erie. We've reduced emissions by 30% over the last ten years. We believe in alternative energy. So of course we have to be sensitive to it. But we don't want to destroy people's jobs based on some theory that's not proven."
Source: Meet the Press, "Meet the Press Transcript – August 9, 2015," www.nbcnews.com, Aug. 9, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Global warming... Can, or does, man have something to do with it? Sure. But that's not the debate. That's not the end of the debate, that's the beginning of the debate. So then let's ask ourselves, before the industrial revolution, before we had any manmade emissions, were there changes in climate? There were profound changes in climate. We had geologic ice ages. There have been times where it's warmer than now. We have also had times where we have had much more CO2 in the air than we do now. So there have been cyclical natures to climate. So there is a natural cycle that has occurred even before man existed on the planet, and then there is the question of whether man has some influence on the climate now...
Does man have some influence over the climate? Probably yes, but... The debate is over how much is nature, and how much is man. And I think good people can say, I don't know, maybe its 95% nature, maybe I think its 50% nature. But the people on the other side of this, have become somewhat hysterical in thinking it's all man, it has nothing to do with nature."
Source: Townhall meeting at the Kilton Library (West Lebanon, NH), YouTube.com, July 25, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"[H]umans are not responsible for climate change in the way some of these people out there are trying to make us believe, for the following reason.
I believe climate is changing because there's never been a moment where the climate is not changing. The question is, what percentage of that or what is due to human activity? If we do the things they want us to do, cap and trade, you name it, how much will that change the pace of climates change vs. how much will it cost to our economy?
Scientists can't tell us what impact it would have on reversing these changes. But I can tell you with certainty it would have a devastating impact on our economy."
Source: CBS News, "Face the Nation Transcripts April 19, 2015: Rubio, Manchin, O'Malley," cbs.com, Apr. 19, 2015
|
|
|
RECOMMENDED to you...
|
|
1
|
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
4
|
|
5
|
|
6
|
|
7
|
|
8
|
|
9
|
|
10
|
|
11
|
|
12
|
|
|
|
CITE THIS PAGE
Who is the author?
|
|
SHARE
|
|
