What do the presidential candidates say about climate change?
Maggie Koerth-Baker joins Tom Weber at 11:20 to discuss global warming and Sandy.
Obama and Romney haven't talked about climate change recently. The topic didn't arise once during the debates. Yesterday on the show, George Condon of the National Journal said, '"If there is one issue that you can't get the President to talk about on the stump, it's global warming." He adds that Romney runs from global warming talk, too.
So do the candidates believe humans are responsible for climate change?
ProCon.org goes back in time to suss out their views.
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This is from Romney's 2010 book No Apology:
"I believe that climate change is occurring - the reduction in the size of global ice caps is hard to ignore. I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor. I am uncertain how much of the warming, however, is attributable to man and how much is attributable to factors out of our control... Internationally, we should work to limit the increase in emissions in global greenhouse gases, but in doing so we shouldn't put ourselves in a disadvantageous position that penalizes American jobs and economic growth."
This is text from Obama's 2008 election website:
"Global warming is real, is happening now and is the result of human activities. The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years. Glaciers are melting faster; the polar ice caps are shrinking; trees are blooming earlier; oceans are becoming more acidic, threatening marine life; people are dying in heat waves; species are migrating, and eventually many will become extinct. Scientists predict that absent major [green house gas] emission reductions, climate change will worsen famine and drought in some of the poorest places in the world and wreak havoc across the globe.."
When you rank the issues that will affect your vote next Tuesday, how high on the list is climate change?
-Stephanie Curtis, social media host