It's amazing to have any Republican candidate suggesting even by implication that climate-change deniers are clueless. But Jon Huntsman does, in fact, agree that scientists
are right that the planet is being warmed from burning fossil fuel. That alone will make him a pariah in the party. Not that he has a chance of winning the nomination anyway. But while he is sane on the subject of the reality of climate change, he's just as bad as the rest of the field when it comes to taking action:
Cap-and-trade ideas aren’t working; it hasn’t worked, and our economy’s in a different place than five years ago. Much of this discussion happened before the bottom fell out of the economy, and until it comes back, this isn’t the moment.
Huntsman argues that “putting additional burdens on the pillars of growth” right now would further weaken the economy.
But, as Brad Johnson rightly says:
In fact, cap-and-trade systems developed under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush saved the ozone layer and cleaned up acid rain. The Northeast’s regional carbon cap-and-trade system is boosting state economies and reducing pollution. Europe’s carbon market is meeting its targets, helping clean energy industries throughout the European Union.
If Huntsman actually listened to the scientific community, he would know that the nation’s scientists believe that there are “many reasons why it is prudent to act now.
”In a new report commissioned by the U.S. Congress, a committee of the National Research Council—representing the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine—concludes that there is a “pressing need for substantial action to limit the “environmental, economic, and humanitarian risks of climate change.”
We always hear how huge the costs of taking action on climate change will be. But only rarely do we hear about the economic benefits of such action. The costs should be viewed as an investment: in ramped-up innovation; in revamped infrastructure; in a rejuvenated labor market; in a prosperous future; in a more environmentally sound world.