FollowUp 6: Republican Denial of Climate Change

NJSpotlight reports on a talk yesterday at Rutgers University by former New Jersey Governors Thomas Kean (a Republican) and James Florio (a Democrat).

Former Republican Gov. Thomas Kean is such a believer in climate change that he is calling on informed citizens to "confront those who don't believe in the science of it for the ignorant people that they are." Speaking before a Rutgers University conference in New Brunswick Tuesday, Kean criticized fellow Republican Gov. Chris Christie, saying it was a "shame" that he pulled New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

While Governor Christie does not deny climate change, he is unwilling to allow the cost of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to stand.  So, the state of New Jersey is no longer working against climate change.

Former Gov. James Florio, however, said "we ought to be asking what it's going to cost if we don't do something."

A hotter, wetter New Jersey, with significant increases in ozone and an agricultural climate much like present-day South Carolina, is what is in store for the Garden State over the next 50 years, experts told attendees. Indeed, many of the state's traditional cash crops, notably cranberries, will not be able to flourish here in the future.

The state's agricultural sector is about, $1 billion, not counting related industries such as food processing, said Robin Leichenko of the Rutgers Climate and Environmental Change Initiative. But it accounts for 16 percent of the state's land use, and some of the country's highest per-acre farm productivity, she said.

The article goes on to discuss much more of New Jersey's economy as described by other Rutgers professors.  Good article.  It is also good to see that some Republicans, Mr. Kean for example, are not in denial of the science of climate change.  Would that the bulk of the Republican presidential contenders were nearly so wise.

1 October 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings posting.
10 October 2011, FollowUp 1.
11 October 2011, FollowUp 2.
17 October 2011, FollowUp 3.
21 October 2011, FollowUp 4.
27 October 2011, FollowUp 5.

29 January 2012, FollowUp 7.
15 February 2012, FollowUp 8.
18 February 2012, FollowUp 9.
2 March 2012, FollowUp 10.
11 March 2012, FollowUp 11.
4 June 2012, FollowUp 12.