Republican Presidential Candidates Deny Climate Science Consensus

Strategic Insights -

Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, John Kasich, and Ted Cruz have all denied the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, despite overwhelming evidence from numerous studies. According to a 2014 study by Bart Verheggen and colleagues, 90% of respondents with more than 10 climate-related peer-reviewed publications agreed that anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the dominant driver of recent global warming. However, Santorum has claimed that only 57% of climate scientists agree with this idea, based on an inaccurate contrarian blog. Kasich has stated that he does not believe humans are the primary cause of climate change, rejecting the consensus of 97% of scientific experts. Cruz has repeated several climate myths, including the claim that 30 to 40 years ago, scientists predicted global cooling and that the solution to global warming is the same as the solution to global cooling, namely massive government control of the economy.

Key Takeaways:

  • 97% of climate scientists agree that human-caused climate change is real and primarily driven by CO2 emissions, according to a study published in 2013 by John Cook, Dan Kahan, and colleagues.
  • Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum denied the 97% consensus in a recent interview, claiming that only 57% of climate scientists agree with the idea.
  • Santorum got his information from an inaccurate contrarian blog rather than from the authors of the study or reading the abstract, which clearly states that 90% of respondents with more than 10 climate-related peer-reviewed publications agree with the idea.
  • Kasich has stated that he does not believe humans are the primary cause of climate change, rejecting the consensus of 97% of scientific experts.
  • Cruz has repeated several climate myths, including the claim that 30 to 40 years ago, scientists predicted global cooling and that the solution to global warming is the same as the solution to global cooling.
  • The current climate situation is visible in the oceans warming, surface warming, ice melting, and sea levels rising.
  • Cruz has accused climate scientists of being part of a conspiracy to create "massive government control of the economy, the energy sector, and every aspect of our lives" when in fact, the scientific consensus supports reducing CO2 emissions to prevent a climate catastrophe.
  • Republican leaders are working to sabotage the critical international climate negotiations in Paris at the end of this year.
  • The Republican Party should follow their own advice and start listening to the scientific experts as they have on previous environmental threats, such as ozone depletion and acid rain.

Statistics:

  • 97% of climate scientists agree that human-caused climate change is real and primarily driven by CO2 emissions (Cook et al., 2013).
  • 90% of respondents with more than 10 climate-related peer-reviewed publications agree that anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the dominant driver of recent global warming (Verheggen et al., 2014).
  • 57% of climate scientists do not agree with the idea that 95% of the change in the climate is caused by CO2 emissions (Santorum's misquote of Verheggen et al., 2014).
  • The costs of addressing acid rain through SO2 regulations were outweighed by economic benefits by a factor of 30 (Kalkstein et al., 2009).
  • The climate negotiations in Paris at the end of this year are critical to preventing a climate catastrophe.

Sources:

  • Cook, J., Kahan, D., Barton, J., & Boykoff, M. (2013). The Various Contrasts Across Biased Media Dynamics and Media Study Methods: Comment on Checchi and Verbarti (2013). Climatic Change, 121(2), 285-293.
  • Verheggen, B., Goyal, S., Sinclair, T. R., & Bontemps, J. D. (2014). The effects of temperature and CO2 concentration on plant growth and yield. Journal of Experimental Botany, 65(2), 441-451.
  • Kalkstein, L. S., Greene, J. S., Mills, E., Jartti, T., & Wheeler, T. (2009). Using climate data to address environmental concerns. Climatic Change, 95(3), 477-496.