Rick Perry Repeats Climate Change Skepticism: 'I'm Not Afraid'

Texas Gov. Rick Perry reiterated his position on man-made global warming this weekend, telling New Hampshire voters that he's "not afraid" to call himself a climate change skeptic.

"For us to take a snapshot in time and to say that what is going on in the country today, the climate change that is going on is man's fault and we need to jeopardize America's economy, I'm a skeptic about that," Perry told a man in Derry, N.H., Friday night who pressed him about his position on climate change. "I'm not afraid to say I'm a skeptic about that."

Perry backed up his position again Saturday morning at another town hall in Hampton, N.H. "Where are you getting your science" that fossil fuels don't contribute to global warming, an audience member asked Perry, according to Patch.com.

Perry responded that temperatures have gone up and down for millennia, and that it's not worth putting the U.S. economy at risk based on "science that is still not settled."

He said there are "still enough skeptics in my book" to stand with them in saying that "I don't believe man-made global warming is settled in science enough."

Perry's comments echo statements he's made earlier this summer.

"I think we're seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists that are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change," the Texas governor said in August during another swing through New Hampshire.

President Barack Obama criticized Perry's climate change skepticism during a recent fundraiser in California.

"I mean, has anybody been watching the debates lately?" Obama said. "You've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change."

WATCH Perry's statements on climate change earlier this summer:

 

 

Comments

[alteredstory]

01:28 PM on 10/19/2011

This coming from a guy who lied to his constituents about sea level rise.

[HP-reader]

06:37 AM on 10/19/2011

RE: '(he is) relying on the fact that he's rich to protect him from the worst impacts of what's coming'
How can money (in a fake financial system, which is about to collapse as it always did in the past several thousand years) protect somebody against natural disasters (flood, cyclones, solar wind, devastation of crops), or maybe some people think that if they are 'on top of the food chain' the 'food chain' cannot collapse, while some other people think that if they have heavy snow at the beginning of the autumn (in the temperate climate zone) and flood in the late autumn this is a good sign that everything is O.K.
It is not O.K. It is not even the bad news, for this is the ugly news evidencing that the water cycle goes higher and higher, and returns more furious.
What about the time when the water will start leaving the biosphere irreversibly, for I truly hope not to be alive by that time.

[alteredstory]

01:30 PM on 10/19/2011

Money can protect him because he can use it to move to safer locations, and to build a sturdier home with better air conditioning, and to get good medical treatment, and to buy food no matter how costly, and to buy safe drinking water if the local supply becomes contaminated, and so on.

Money is how we tally control over resources at the moment, and while that system could, conceivably, collapse in the future, it will NOT be doing so in Perry's lifetime.

[Dogs And Cats]

05:45 AM on 10/12/2011

It's not the environment vs the economy stupid. It's time to embrace green business. That would be a pro-business position. Perhaps just not a pro-Texas business, under the current oil oligarchy.

[REMEMBER2050]

07:12 PM on 10/11/2011

Obama's comment was right on the money and actually funny. Must mean elections are coming!

My pet theory is that we only have to wait a few more years for our annual disaster bills to reach around a triillion, at which all these climate deniers will be singing a different tune. That would be a sad song, fyi.

At that point, tipping the hat to private industry of course, perhaps we can geoengineer a pair of Raybans that will fit around the planet. Inconveniently causing loss of all crops but hell, we'll perhaps still have an atmosphere.

The downside will be that we'll be buying all our renewables technologies from China or worse, perhaps even frigging Spain or Denmark, but what the hell. It was a long time ago that we were the industrial leader of the world that we're tanking as I type. No need to actually create any jobs here for the American people or show the initiative that once was a hallmark of the country.

[alteredstory]

10:23 AM on 10/11/2011

Ignorance is bliss?

He's not afraid for one of two reasons - the first possibility is that he's incredibly foolish, and believes everything he says.

The second is that he's incredibly cynical, and is relying on the fact that he's rich to protect him from the worst impacts of what's coming.

[HP-reader]

01:57 PM on 10/08/2011

RE: 'I am not afraid' (of the Climate Change)
Not fearing is a wonderful news, but even more wonderful would be to know the reasons of not afraiding: is it because of focusing on the world of greed, or something else, like for example believing in the inability to understand the mechanics of the problem, unwillingness to put efforts to see the problem at all, or not knowing how deep the abyss of CO2 may be - neither where it leads to, nor whether there will be 'a safety net' or not at some point in the future.
I am personally afraid not only of the known & unknown risks associated with the climate change, but also of the attitude of some people with money and power to the things.

[Publicola]

10:44 PM on 10/07/2011

The Heartland Institute Claims Yet Another Propaganda Victim

rhjames: "Recent satellite measurements show that heat retention controlled by radiation is much less than previously assumed by computer models."

rhjames is parroting Heartland Institute propaganda.* That deeply misleading Heartland Institute propaganda notwithstanding, the article that propaganda refers to is not reference to recent NASA satellite measurements but instead to Heartland Institute "expert" Roy Spencer's latest NASA satellite data analysis.

Roy Spencer analyzed satellite data incorrectly for years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/18/science/earth/18CLIM.html
http://www.skepticalscience.com/satellite-measurements-warming-troposphere.htm

Roy Spencer has been repeatedly debunked by other climate scientists.

http://bbickmore.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/roy-spencers-great-blunder-part-1/
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/07/misdiagnosis-of-surface-temperature-feedback/

Roy Spencer believes per the Bible God will protect us from global warming.

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/blog/item/prominent-signers-of-an-evangelical-declaration-on-global-warming/
http://www.cornwallalliance.org/docs/a-renewed-call-to-truth-prudence-and-protection-of-the-poor.pdf

Roy Spencer is a creationist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Spencer_(scientist)
http://theevolutioncrisis.org.uk/testimony2.php

Roy Spencer's repeated failures to have NASA satellite data conform to his religious fundamentalist beliefs notwithstanding, science deniers parrot Roy Spencer with zero skepticism.

-------------
* http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2011/07/27/new-nasa-data-blow-gaping-hold-in-global-warming-alarmism/

[alteredstory]

10:24 AM on 10/11/2011

I'd fan you again if I could.

[REMEMBER2050]

06:56 PM on 10/11/2011

Me too. Another great post.

[HP-reader]

02:45 PM on 10/06/2011

@ GSR RE: 'Without greenhouse gasses the Earth would be like Mars'
You hardly need any scientist to prove that this is not true. It could be proved with elementary knowledge from grammar-school.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere of Mars is 95.32% (Google search [Mars wiki] and read the article). Pay attention that it is in % there.
The concentration of CO2 on the Earth is 390 ppm, but it is rising, the average annual temperature is increased, the oceans have accumulated huge amount of CO2, and what about the rocks ... the limestone for example.What will happen when the CO2 from the limestone starts getting released (for further details see the prehistoric diagram of CO2/Temp. vs. time)?
So the inference is just the opposite: As a result of the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere of the Earth the Earth may start looking like Mars because of the increase of CO2 (not because of its 'absence') and owing to the irresponsible emission & handling of greenhouse gases that may 'unlock' even more CO2.
What about the acidification of the oceans, when it drops bellow the level at which the shells of the sea plankton will dissolve?
And how will CO2 'disappear' just so (if it is not a secret) - it is everywhere in Nature. Everything drives towards CO2 ... to the point of no return, to the 'Event Horizon' of the absolute stupidity and irresponsibility ... and greed without limits.

[alteredstory]

10:31 AM on 10/11/2011

CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas, nor is it the most plentiful or the most effective one. Water, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and so on. CO2 is the one that is changing the most because of human activities, which is why it is the one that is talked about the most.

Methane is starting to increase as well, as a result of CO2-induced warming (which will speed up the warming even more).

Your "inference" ignores about 90% of the information you would need to make an accurate assessment.

In addition, the warming properties of CO2 have been proven REPEATEDLY since the mid 1800's.

How will CO2 "disappear"? Plants take it up. The ocean takes it up, becoming more acidic. Rock weathering acts as a sink, albeit a very slow one.

As to oceanic acidification, that's part of the problem - when the pH drops below the level that's survivable for plankton, we will lose a carbon sink, and the problem will get worse.

There's a REASON we're scared about this. Massive, rapid climate shifts in the past have resulted in massive extinction events, like the Permian-Triassic extinction - the one known as "The Great Dying."

[Publicola]

01:07 PM on 10/06/2011

More from the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation on their belief that per Biblical prophecy God will protect us from global warming:

---------------------------------------------------

The world is in the grip of an idea: that burning fossil fuels... is causing global warming that will be so dangerous that we must stop it by reducing our use...

We believe that idea —- we’ll call it “global warming alarmism” —- fails the tests of theology... with a worldview of the Earth and its climate system contrary to that taught in the Bible...

Earth and all its subsystems - of land, sea, and air, living and nonliving - are the good products of the wise design and omnipotent acts of the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Triune God of the Bible. As such they reveal God’s glory. Mankind, created in God’s image, is the crown of creation. Human beings have the divine mandate to multiply and to fill, subdue, and rule the Earth...

Human beings have the divine mandate to multiply and to fill, subdue, and rule the Earth, transforming it from wilderness into garden. They act as stewards under God to cultivate and guard what they subdue and rule.

continued...

[Publicola]

01:09 PM on 10/06/2011

...Cornwall Alliance, cont'd

Calling them to be His vicegerents over the Earth, God requires obedience to His laws - in Scripture and imprinted in the human conscience - in their stewardship. Although sin, universal among mankind, deeply mars this stewardship, God’s redemptive act in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and His instructive activity through Scripture, communicating the nature of creation and human responsibility for it, enable people to create wealth and decrease poverty at the same time that they pursue creation stewardship and, even more important, the true spiritual wealth of knowing their Creator through Jesus Christ.

The Biblical worldview contrasts sharply with the environmentalist worldview...

Environmentalism tends to substitute subjective, humanist standards of environmental stewardship for the objective, transcendent standards of divine morality...

The providence and promises of God inform a Christian understanding of creation stewardship, helping to avert irrational or exaggerated fears of catastrophes - fears that are rooted, ultimately, in the loss of faith in God...

God’s wisdom, power, and faithfulness justify confidence that Earth’s ecosystems are robust and will, by God’s providence, accomplish the purposes He set for them.

-----------------------------------
http://www.cornwallalliance.org/docs/a-renewed-call-to-truth-prudence-and-protection-of-the-poor.pdf

18pctofgdp: "Global Warming alarmism IS a religion."

Science denier irony is eternal.

[18pctofgdp]

07:39 AM on 10/06/2011

Perry is rightly skeptical of something for which there is no empirical evidence. The only evidence that alarmists cite is that 98% of climate scientists agree. Well, 100% of Christians agree on the existence of God and the need for salvation through Christ's death on the cross, so that PROVES that Christianity is true!

[chrisd3]

10:54 AM on 10/06/2011

Comparing science to religion is a losing proposition.

98% of scientists agree precisely BECAUSE the empirical evidence is so strong.

[18pctofgdp]

10:56 AM on 10/06/2011

Global Warming alarmism IS a religion.

[chrisd3]

11:39 AM on 10/06/2011

Ah, the meaningless denier rhetoric flavor-of-the-month. Thanks for that grand insight.

Scientists are convinced by evidence. There are mountains of evidence for global warming. It's everywhere. But if you keep your eyes closed, and you stick your fingers in your ears, and you keep saying "lalalalalalalalalala", maybe you'll be able to pretend it's not there for a few more years.

[Publicola]

12:55 PM on 10/06/2011

18pctofgdp: "Perry is rightly skeptical of something for which there is no empirical evidence."

Yawn.

The following are scientific facts:

* The Earth has warmed significantly over recent decades, to what may be the highest level in 2,000 years if not far longer.

* Greenhouse gases including anthropogenic CO2 -- which is generated mostly by fossil fuel burning -- warm the Earth. Without greenhouse gases the average temperature of the Earth would be below freezing.

* Satellite measurements demonstrate that increasing atmospheric CO2 has increased heat energy retention in the atmosphere­.

* Atmospheric CO2 has increased ~40% since the dawn of the fossil fuel era, to the highest level in at least 800,000 years if not far longer.

* Overwhelming scientific evidence indicates that said increased atmospheric CO2 is due to anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and there is no other viable scientific explanation­ for said atmospheric CO2 increase.

* There is a strong correlation­­­ between said atmospheric­­­ CO2 increase and said recent warming.

* Known natural forcing agents of historical global warming - including changes in orbital cycles and increases in solar radiative output - cannot explain the bulk of said recent warming. Neither has any scientific theory to explain the bulk of said recent warming other than anthropogenic global warming survived scientific scrutiny.

Again these are all scientific facts. Which is to say:

The scientific evidence supporting anthropogenic global warming is overwhelming.

[18pctofgdp]

01:51 PM on 10/06/2011

I thought the sun warmed the earth. Thanks for the scientific statement that the earth is warmed by greenhouse gases. Oh, and by the way, most real scientists know that correlation is not the same as causation.

[Publicola]

02:09 PM on 10/06/2011

18pctofgdp: "I thought the sun warmed the earth."

Like, duh.

I thought all sentient humans could understand the very basic concept of multiple causation.

18pctofgdp: "Thanks for the scientific statement that the earth is warmed by greenhouse gases."

You are welcome.

Multiple causation: it's not just a good idea, it's reality.

18pctofgdp: "Oh, and by the way, most real scientists know that correlatio­n is not the same as causation."

Again, like duh.

In fact, all real scientists know that.

Oh, and by the way: all real scientists also know that correlation is empirical -- though not sufficient -- scientific evidence for causation.

HTH.

[Publicola]

05:06 PM on 10/05/2011

U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2010):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Human activities are influencing climate. As discussed in the following chapters, scientific evidence that the Earth is warming is now overwhelming. There is also a multitude of evidence that this warming results primarily from human activities, especially burning fossil fuels and other activities that release heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. Projections of future climate change indicate that Earth will continue to warm unless significant and sustained actions are taken to limit emissions of GHGs.

Increasing temperatures and GHG concentrations are driving a multitude of related and interacting changes in the Earth system, including decreases in the amounts of ice stored in mountain glaciers and polar regions, increases in sea level, changes in ocean chemistry, and changes in the frequency and intensity of heat waves, precipitation events, and droughts. These changes in turn pose significant risks to both human and ecological systems. Although the details of how the future impacts of climate change will unfold are not as well understood as the basic causes and mechanisms of climate change, we can reasonably expect that the consequences of climate change will be more severe if actions are not taken to limit its magnitude and adapt to its impacts.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782

[Will Yum]

12:36 PM on 10/06/2011

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/214181/20110915/ivar-giaever-global-warming-climate-change-al-gore-ipcc-hoax-dissent-nobel-prize-winner-physicist-re.htm

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100058265/us-physics-professor-global-warming-is-the-greatest-and-most-successful-pseudoscientific-fraud-i-have-seen-in-my-long-life/

[Publicola]

01:21 PM on 10/06/2011

James Delingpole­....

You mean this James Delingpole­, the non-scientist OpEd columnist?

"It is not my job to sit down and read peer-reviewed papers because I simply haven’t got the time; I haven't got the scientific expertise.­.. I am an interpreter of interpretations."
-- James Delingpole

Why yes, you do.

James Delingpole is a joke, and you fake "skeptics" are unfathomably gullible.

[maxwells]

01:58 PM on 10/06/2011

Puzzles saner folk, but maybe denier fascination with know-nothing journalist/buffoons like Delingpole and Monckton stems from their British accents.

Back in grade school, I too associated British upper class accents with first-rate educations, not realizing yet that you can acquire just the accent w/o actually absorbing an understanding of anything.

Oh well. As Lincoln said,

"You can fool some people all the time."

[rhjames]

07:34 AM on 10/07/2011

Multitude of evidence of anthropogenic warming? Name or direct me to just one, and please don't use failed computer models - you said "evidence".

[Publicola]

04:04 PM on 10/07/2011

I refer you to the list I presented above - the list that you incorrectly tried to undermine above with false and muddled claims that you do not understand.

[Publicola]

05:03 PM on 10/07/2011

BTW the computer models are not "failed" either.

Here, let me help you with that:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/01/2010-updates-to-model-data-comparisons/

Moreover to see scientific evidence as documented by the National Academy of Sciences you can click on the National Academy of Sciences link that I provided in the post that you were responding to here - here's that link again:

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782

HTH.

[GustavoRejivik]

03:42 PM on 10/05/2011

Maybe Rick Perry was up in Lake Tahoe .. or attended the Climate Conference in Cancun when it snowed there .. shortest time between snowfalls since 1969 ... see:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/29385123/detail.html

There may be some minor warming ... but these dire predictions meant to incite FEAR just aren't supported by the World around us nor the data collected.

[Publicola]

05:03 PM on 10/05/2011

Um.. it didn't snow in Cancun; thanks for the laugh.

Also, global warming causes increased moisture in the air, which in turn causes greater snowfall in many areas that are below freezing.

HTH.

[canuckhoser]

05:40 PM on 10/05/2011

Just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it's not true...

[rhjames]

07:35 AM on 10/07/2011

And also more cloud, which results in cooling, as it reflects the sun's energy.

[StephenBP]

06:18 AM on 10/06/2011

The thesis that scientists uncover facts for the purpose of "inciting" fear is ridiculous.
Tacking the fear meme onto a fallacious argument really does nothing to strengthen or justify the fallacious argument. It is just another dollop of emotional mud hurled by someone who seems to feel that the emotion known as fear is the driving force of people whom they don’t or won’t understand.
So be it.

[Will Yum]

11:14 PM on 10/06/2011

Fear is not the issue, money is. Try actually reading this link.http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100058265/us-physics-professor-global-warming-is-the-greatest-and-most-successful-pseudoscientific-fraud-i-have-seen-in-my-long-life/

[maxwells]

01:30 PM on 10/05/2011

From NBC, TYT Network, Yahoo News, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. News

While governor, seems Perry suggested compensating his Texas teacher retirees, aged 75 to 90 a new pair of shoes for his GREAT idea. Though when non-kinfolk buy life insurance on you, used to be they'd also offer to take you fishing, and fit you for a pair of cement shoes.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/Gov-Perry-Implicated-in-Teacher-Life-Insurance-Scheme-128413113.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUxmYG1FXsE

I mean, HOW LOW CAN YOU GO, RICK?

Then again, you might consider who Rick likes to party with...
http://news.yahoo.com/perrys-other-hunting-buddies-123800248.html

But Perry likes to claim he's a jobs creator. What kind of jobs, eh Rick? The min wage kind?

http://www.bls.gov/ro6/fax/minwage_tx.htm
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2011/08/16/how-rick-perry-created-jobs-in-texas

So, Texas governor, failed Wall St. life insurance peddler, minimum wage job creator, and regular "good ole boy" who likes to hang around people who toss the N word around like spit, says science has a global conspiracy going on climate change.

Maybe tomorrow he'll try to sell you a "bridge to nowhere".

[texfly]

02:46 PM on 10/05/2011

maxwells,

Nailed it!!!!!

We're going to have to look into the "dead peasant" insurance bought when a person gets arrested for a heinous crime. Could explain a lot.

[maxwells]

04:26 PM on 10/05/2011

Right Text.

And hasn't Rich Perry said that global warming, social security, and medicare are fundamentally flawed, the latter two unconstitutional, as in page 40 of his book?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/us/politics/03perry.html?_r=2&hpw

So, the Texas drought's so long there's been record fires, but Perry says nope, no global warming.

Tracking his funding might clue you on who he really represents. According to:

http://www.followthemoney.org/database/uniquecandidate.phtml?uc=3156&gclid=CLKojLyl0qsCFWYbQgodJzP2VA

For previous campaigns, Perry has had:

ENCAP INVESTMENTS....Oil & Gas...2004-2010........$205,500
EXXONMOBIL....................Oil & Gas....2004-2010........$189,213
MOSBACHER ENERGY...Oil & Gas....2006-2008........$185,083
VALERO ENERGY............Oil & Gas....2004-2010........$147,895
HUNT OIL..........................Oil & Gas....2004-2008........$140,000

and many others.

And during prior runs, Perry raked in over $11 million from oil & gas interests.

And here's Rick in June at a Koch Brothers summit:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57888.html

The Kochs own America's largest private fossil fuels firm.

So, is this the sort of guy fixed income seniors should put their honest faith in?

If you're not an oil tycoon, real estate mogul, or political lobbyist, why would you trust this guy on anything?

[Katmandu01]

07:28 PM on 10/05/2011

Perhaps Ricky P needs to look a little closer into his "good book":
Matthew 19:24
"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
But then maybe he already has his "thirty pieces of silver".

[Publicola]

11:39 AM on 10/05/2011

American Physical Society:

Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide as well as methane, nitrous oxide and other gases. They are emitted from fossil fuel combustion and a range of industrial and agricultural processes.

The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring.
If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruption­s in the Earth’s physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.

http://www.aps.org/policy/statements/07_1.cfm

[Chris 1]

11:16 AM on 10/05/2011

The average HP minion remains clueless;

http://www.australianclimatemadness.com/2011/10/the-climate-alarmism-machine/

[Publicola]

11:36 AM on 10/05/2011

From that science denier blog link:

"IPCC: Established solely to find evidence of a pre-conceived conclusion that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant"

Yeah man, and NASA was established solely to create the hoax that man landed on the moon.

--------------------------------------

Science denier rhetoric is stupefying.

[gallon]

02:44 PM on 10/05/2011

Got any verifiable science, chris1?