By critiquing Obama and praising Romney's former policies, Klein said, Bloomberg established his bona fides as a centrist. Then, speaking as a centrist, Bloomberg attempted to situate climate change as a nonpartisan issue that must be urgently dealt with.
"Bloomberg's not endorsing Obama so much as he's trying to reset the incentives on climate change. It's a huge play," Klein said.
Paul Bledsoe, a policy consultant and a former Clinton White House staffer, said that given Bloomberg's appeal to independents, Republicans may now feel pressure to change their stance on climate.
"Romney has performed flip-flops on climate change worthy of an Olympic gymnast," he said. "And it now appears [Republicans] either have to take a stand or pay a political price."
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500.
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Add CommentWe should be careful of suggesting that a simple carbon tax or cap will begin to reduce the frequency of extreme weather events. With CO2 close to 400 ppmv the Earth will continue to warm and extreme weather will continue to be much more likely. The ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers will continue to melt, the oceans will continue to warm and sea level will continue to rise. Slowing the rate that CO2 goes into the atmosphere will do nothing to change this. We must get close to zero CO2 emissions before natural processes will begin to reduce CO2 concentrations and it will take many decades for that to happen. On the other hand, hearing Republicans attack President Obama for failing to advance climate policy is just diabolical. We all know who in congress stood in opposition to a climate bill. We all know their party and their names. They have made a pack with the devil fossil fuel industry to ensure that atmospheric CO2 will continue its relentless rise right through the 21st century.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe destruction of the I.C.E. will be caused by pollution....not climate theories.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat - it only took the deaths of 40 or so of his constituents to get a conservative to realize that climate change is a danger worth mitigating.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo how many Americans need to die before the GOP extracts its collective head from its posterior and starts thinking in terms of long-term national economic sustainability instead of short-term personal profit gain?
Even if mankind emitted zero CO2, that does not mean "natural processes" will reduce its concentration. Your absurd argument was created out of nothing based in reality. The last ice age didn't end because of us. You fell for their argument of who to blame, and repeated it without evidence. Only a fool would be convinced.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne storm every 100 years in New York and New Jersey and it is confirmation that global warming is truly a threat. Those who believe that man is warming the climate, look at Saturn, it is warming up also!! There is a very large storm that Bush started. If we have two or three more big storms in this same area then I will be convinced that the sky is falling! Right now it is just a very big bad storm that only occurs every 100 years. I am glad that I do not live in hurricane and tornado country. I feel much safer here in California where we do not have thos storms. :o)<
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReply to M.Tucker and Vapur: Please consider that the sun has some degree of influence on global warming. Carbon Dioxide is not the problem. Heat is. Sun = heat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI usually do not respond to those who deny science and the evidence because the objections are always the same, they have been around for years and they have all been repeatedly debunked. If the objections could be taken seriously the actual debate would take place in meetings of the various scientific institutions involved. To all deniers of the science: 97% of actual climate scientists who publish peer reviewed research are convinced that human activity, burning fossil fuels and deforestation, are driving global warming. The Academies of Science of 19 separate nations agree. This includes the US National Academy and the Royal Society. Other scientific bodies also agree like NASA, NOAA, American Meteorological Society, Geologic Society of America, the US Geological Survey and the American Geophysical Union. Arguments that atmospheric CO2 levels have nothing to do with temperature or the sun is the sole cause of all warming have been so thoroughly discredited that it is laughable that the arguments still show up. The physics and chemistry of our planet is independent of oddball notions and the evidence is there for anyone interested in the truth to see.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd yes, if civilization is finally capable of reducing CO2 emissions to close to zero and stops cutting down the forests, natural processes will eventually, over many decades, reduce the levels. Before human interference in the carbon cycle natural processes were responsible for the rise in CO2 and for the decrease. I doubt that will be possible in my lifetime. I expect civilization to continue on as before, pumping ever more GHG into the atmosphere without regard to the consequences.
I fully expect more rediculous objections to show up here and name calling has no influence on my thinking, on the physics of the planet, or the conclusions of thousands of people who have devoted their lives to science and the truth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShoshin writes:
....Bloomberg is a complete and utter fool.....
As he is thus regarded by the victims of the storm (Not hurricane).
Actually, most of his constituents regard Bloomberg as quite efficient. Also, Sandy was a hurricane, at least until it met up with a winter storm coming across from the Midwest.
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