Climate Denial in Government: The Need for Voter Awareness

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It's been an interesting few years when we talk about natural disasters. Flooding,

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hurricanes, increase of hurricanes, and the number, and

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when they show up. We've seen droughts, we've seen

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floods, we've seen a lot. It's been a lot.

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And when we talk about solutions, we talk about investing and how

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governments need to invest in eco-solutions, green

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solutions, renewable energy. We've heard all of those terms. We've

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heard all of those, you know, a lot of greenwashing from companies as

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well as politicians. But when it really comes down to

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it, it comes down to enacting laws and regulations that will help incentivize

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people as well as businesses and cities

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and states and provinces and the federal governments and

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countries really internationally to be able to enact these

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types of solutions. When it comes to that, We haven't really been

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progressing very much. Even when we do put up legislation

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that's been record-breaking, it's still not enough. And

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it really comes down to the politicians. In the US, it's found

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that there are a number of them, including 123 politicians in the US are

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climate deniers. And we're going to talk about the climate deniers, what

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that means for the US, and what that means for climate

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action, and what we need to do to make sure that we are

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able to get people in there that are not climate deniers. We're

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going to talk about that on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's

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start the show. Hey

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everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm

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your host, Andrew Lune, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean,

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how you can speak up for the ocean, what you can do to live for a better ocean

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by taking action. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about

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taking action and the lack thereof when it comes to US

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politics. is

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getting tired. It's really getting tiring. But to know

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who you're voting for and what they stand for is really important. That's what we're

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going to be talking about today, because a new report

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that came out from the Center of American Progress by Kat Soh

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was picked up by The Guardian, and they

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started to talk about it. And they realized that 23 senators and

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100 people in the House All

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Republicans, all make US an outlier internationally

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when it comes to climate action. They are climate deniers. If

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they're not climate deniers, they just don't feel like to act

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on climate change. And that is a big problem when you talk internationally,

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especially when you talk about the US being part of the Paris Accord,

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trying to put in the Inflation Reduction Act, trying to

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progress in climate change, but not enough because they

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keep coming up against barriers. They keep coming up against challenges within

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the Senate, within the House. So a total of 123 elected

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officials of the federal representatives, 100 in the

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House of Representatives, and 23 U.S. Senators deny

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the existence of human-caused climate change, All of them are

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Republicans, and that's according to a new study, a recent

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study of statements made

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by current members. So this is actually them coming out and saying, you

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know, I don't believe in climate change. And so Kat So, who's the campaign manager

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for energy and environment campaigns for the Center of American Progress said,

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that's definitely concerning. And that's a, you

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know, it's obviously, it is, it's concerning for the American people, it's concerning for

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the world, especially given the power, the superpower that the US

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is. So the report defined climate deniers as those

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who say that the climate crisis is not real or not primarily

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caused by humans, or claim that the climate science is

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not settled, the extreme weather that we are seeing, that

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extreme weather that is caused by global warming or planet warming pollution

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is beneficial. So we've seen a change in sort

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of that rhetoric. We've seen it going from climate denying to

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just being like, hey, you know what? I like the heat. It's kind of nice. It's not

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that bad. And then we've also seen, we've even seen pundits on

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Fox News start talking about how when we had the

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wildfires last year and the smoke came into New York City, how

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it's not that bad for you. It's actually good to get that in your system every

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once in a while. Really, really, they're really going out of their way to

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making sure that climate change is not that bad. Even we're

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seeing rhetoric from fossil fuel companies as well as politicians just

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being like, you know what, climate change is here, there's nothing we can do about it,

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we might as well just live with it, learn to live with it. And so

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that's a problem. Of course, you have senators like Senator Ted Cruz

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in 2018 who said, of course the climate is changing. Oh,

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that's kind of nice to know. The climate has been changing from

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the dawn of time. The climate will change as long as we have

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planet Earth. Not helpful one bit. Other instances

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are more recent. For instance, Louisiana Representative Steve

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Scalese said in a 2021 interview referencing long

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debunked research that is often still cited by climate deniers, is

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we've had freezing periods in 1970s. They said it

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was going to be a new cooling period. And then now they're

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saying it's getting warmer, it gets colder, and that's called Mother

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Nature. But the idea that hurricanes or wildfires were

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caused in the last few years is just fallacy." That

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is ridiculous. That's what we're seeing in our elected officials. So

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climate-denying lawmakers have received a combined $52 million

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in lifetime campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry. So

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it's no wonder we've seen so much climate denying

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as we go through. So the research also shows that the American public, perhaps

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uniquely among people in developed countries, is represented disproportionately by

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climate deniers. Although 23% of the entire US

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Congress is composed of those who dismiss the climate crisis, polls show

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that the proportion of Americans who share

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the view is significantly smaller, as much as half. So

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we're seeing a decrease in the amount of people who

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are denying climate in the American public, but we're still seeing

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a pretty good representation of climate deniers in the House and

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in the Senate. So that's really concerning. So

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even as a quarter of U.S. lawmakers deny the climate crisis, the

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American public has been moving significantly in the other direction. Fewer

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than one in five people in the U.S. reject the findings of climate

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science, according to various studies, with long-running polling

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by Yale University showing that those that they class as

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dismissive stand at just 11%. So we are seeing this

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change in sort of the view of climate change. People are seeing

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what's happening. People are believing the science now all

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those predictions that people saw I'm like, ah, yeah, it's getting hotter But it's

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kind of nice that it's getting hotter. But now we're starting to see the ramifications of

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that heat we're starting to see the ramifications in terms of

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you know, increased hurricane number and

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intensity of storms. We're seeing increased flooding. We're seeing people,

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you know, not only getting affected by flooding and

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wildfires, but dying from it. You know, people's lives are

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being affected each and every day, maybe by not

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huge storms or huge natural events, but at some point, sea level

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rise, you know, changing in soil, changing

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in coastline. We're starting to see that happen more and more often.

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And it's just getting to be like what we're seeing all

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the time. It says here, the amount of people at each end of the

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spectrum, alarmed and dismissive. So there are some people who

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are alarmed of climate science, and there's some people who are dismissive of

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climate change, were essentially tied back in 2013. So they're equal

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in 2013, but now there are at least three

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alarm people to every one dismissive. So there's been a

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fundamental shift in how people see climate change in the U.S.

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That's by Anthony Lazoritz, an expert in

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climate public opinion at Yale University. So

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we're seeing this change in the American

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people. And we're seeing that climate change is

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being, people are worrying about it, people are seeing

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it right in front of their eyes. But we're not seeing that same representation

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in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. That's

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a huge problem. That's something that we cannot have. We

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wanna make sure that our elected officials are supposed to be a reflection of the

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people. You know, whether if you're in a democratic society, you get

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to vote for who your government is, that's what you'd like it to be. You

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want your representatives to represent you, to represent your values. If

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you are seeing the effects of climate change and are concerned

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or alarmed of the effects of climate change, you want your politicians

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to represent you and those values and say, hey, We

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need to do something about climate change because it's affecting my neighbor, it's affecting

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me, it's affecting my community, it's affecting my city, it's affecting my

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state or province, it's affecting my country.

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And that's something that you just

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don't want to see. So why are we allowing these

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politicians to be in power? A lot of times these politicians

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are really popular. Senator Ted Cruz is really popular. He's

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had a lot of scandals, he's had a lot of problems, but he has been in

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power a lot. And trying to get him out and trying to put

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somebody against him that would actually get him out is gonna be really

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difficult because people know him so much. And this is where you gotta get to

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know your candidates. You've got to make sure that you understand what

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your candidate brings to the table and what you need. Even

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if you fully agree with climate change or not,

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look at your surroundings. Look at your

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city, your county. Look

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at what's happening to it. Look at the people affected and start to

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say, we need a change because things haven't changed in

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a long time. Government is supposed to bring change. You know,

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whether you agree with that change or not, they're supposed to be bringing change.

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So if you want the change to be what you want, then you have

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to make sure that you put the right people in. And that's how it's going to

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be to, you know, that's how you vote in for the people that

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you want is you go out and you support them and you rally for

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them and you go out and you vote them. So it said, you

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know, the fossil fuel industry and its allies have long used a variety of messaging to

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rebuff concerns of climate. She said that, you know, so this is going

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to change of not just climate denying, but also climate sort

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of like supporting, but not really supporting. So

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as far back as the 1990s, they were saying renewable energy isn't really reliable enough,

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so they're going after the solutions. Or they were saying that wind

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power will kill whales. And now you're even

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seeing the Republican candidate talk about wind power kills

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birds and how there's a huge graveyard of birds under each windmill

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if you actually go out and look for it. That's almost a direct quote from

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him in a recent speech from Donald Trump. These

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all could be debunked. These all are managed. People

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are aware of some of these issues. And the

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technology has gotten that much better. But still, climate deniers

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and climate alternatives, they're trying to

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make sure they're throwing you off with the solutions. They're

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going after and attacking the solutions. So it really is so

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different. from climate denial, if you don't deny the

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science, but you deny the possibility of the solutions. We've

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seen it for EVs. You know, I've seen it, I've seen here people, and

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I talk about my EV, like, well, yeah, well, you know, it's not great for the

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environment. Well, no, it's not perfect for the environment. The technology

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is just, you know, we're just starting to accelerate the technology, but

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it's better than the alternative. It's better than gas power when you look at it

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in the long run. You know, we look at the emissions that it provides. That's

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what we've seen and that's what you have to, that's what you have to, like when you

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start talking to people about it, these are the arguments that I always come up

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with. And I think that's what we have to do. When you start talking about

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the solutions, you have to just debunk all these myths around those

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solutions. right, and I think that's really big. Even I've seen

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for EVs, even there's a lot of people like in the dad groups I'm a part

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of and some of the Facebook groups I'm a part of, they're like, and even just on

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my regular page of friends that I have, they start talking about how EVs

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are not manly enough. You know, like attacking just like your,

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sort of like you as a person, whether you're a man or not,

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or identify as a man or not, they're attacking your bravado and

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being like, well, you need to drive a truck or a gas powered car to

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make sure that you still can be manly enough. If not, you're not manly.

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And it's just absolutely ridiculous how they attack. But

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sometimes it's effective. It's effective in knowing how

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that happens. And again, it's, The

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people who start attacking them, you don't

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want to argue against them as much because you're always being attacked. In

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the article that I'm reading here in The Guardian, and I'll link

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to it in the show notes, That's a problem in

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itself because once you start going silent because

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you don't want to be attacked, that's when they

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win. That's when people look and see the major

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conversation around solutions for climate change is

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bad. And if you do that, you're a bad person. The solutions

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are not perfect, so why would you do it? A lot

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of times people will attack me for being in my

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office and talking about science when I'm not out on the ocean doing

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scientific work like well you're just an armchair conservationist yes

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I am because I can't get out in the field all the time most people can't

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get out in the field all the time if they want to talk about conservation in fact

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conservation you can argue is not done out in the field a lot of

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times conservation is done in a boardroom or in a meeting room in a hotel or

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in an office somewhere and talking to other people, meeting

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with other people at a workshop or at government and lobbying government.

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So there's a lot of different ways you can do this but people will attack you because you're not

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what they expect a conservationist should be. You're not what they

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expect a person who's trying to do better for the planet

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is to be. They'll attack you as much as possible But you have

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to fight back, you have to stand up for yourself, and you have to say, these are the reasons I'm

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doing it. You don't have to agree with it, but these are the reasons I'm doing it so that other

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people will feel confident in speaking up as well. And

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I think what happens is when you have people who attack, even

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though they're a small minority, they vote. And if you don't speak with

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your vote, if you don't go out and vote, then they will win and there

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will be no change at all. So it starts with you, it starts with

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voting, and it starts with getting out there and doing something that

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you believe in and that you want to change. If you want climate

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action to change, that's how you do it. Vote for people who will

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actually do climate change, who will actually take action

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against climate change. One of the really interesting things, and I know I've talked a lot about

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Democrats and Republicans, and I don't mean to polarize anything.

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I just find that the Democrats in this election are very much for

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making changes to the environment, albeit maybe not fast enough, but

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they are making changes. While the Republicans don't seem to be making any changes,

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they're climate denying. They're using that as a political tool

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to separate people even more, which obviously we don't need.

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We need to actually take action to save our planet. We don't need

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to politicize this. It's not a political issue in my opinion, but

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they've made it to be a political issue. But they want

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you, you know, the people who attack

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you are the ones who vote. If you don't vote, you don't get in.

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And what's been really refreshing is the VP candidate for

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the Democrats, Tim Watts, is one of those guys who's just

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kind of like, you hear him, it's just very refreshing to hear someone just

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talk frankly. It's like, look, I just want it to be a better planet. I don't

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want my neighbor to have his house flooded. I don't want

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my neighbor to lose his house in a wildfire. I want my community to

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be safe. I want my community so that when I go out,

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I know nothing's going to happen to my neighbor. Nothing's going to

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happen to the car beside me or the person beside me or

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myself or my family. I want it to be safe. And what's wrong

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with taking action against climate change if we know that's going to put us

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in harm? We've seen the harm that puts us in. as a population, as

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a species, why don't we want to go out and help each other and do that?

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You know, a lot of the times when we talk about climate change and protecting the

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ocean and climate change, it's like, well, you know, our country is not really contributing that much,

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you know, to climate change. You know, whatever you do per capita or by

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country, you know, we're not up there. We're not the top list. And until

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China and India do something, then we're not going to do anything.

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Have you heard that argument before? I hear it all the time. It

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is something that we have to combat every time if we have the

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means to do it You know whether you're from the US the UK Canada

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doesn't matter where you're from Russia, you know, China

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India We need to take action. We all need to take action.

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And we all need to lead in that taking action so that we can all see each other

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take action. Because when one country doesn't, the other country's like, why should I

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take action if that country's not doing it? So we need to make sure, on

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an international level, that we are taking action to show other countries that

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we are serious about this. And we want to look out for each other. We want to look out

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for our well-being. of the Spotify,

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you go on YouTube, you go hit me up on Instagram at

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how to protect the ocean. You will be able to leave a comment.

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I'd love to hear what you think about what's happening with

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climate, your politicians, whether they're climate deniers or

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not, and how fast legislation is going to get put through if we

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don't have these climate change deniers. 123 of them. in

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the US government. That is insane. And that needs to change. So

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hopefully this November 2024, that will

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change. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Hit me up on

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Instagram at HowToProtectTheOcean and subscribe and share this

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episode as much as possible to people who

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you think would like to hear it. And I want to thank you so much for

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joining me on today's episode of the HowToProtectTheOcean podcast. Have a great day.