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Poll: Half of Republicans Favor Carbon Limits As Scientists Warn Of “Uninhabitable” Planet

220px-AlfedPalmersmokestacksgopREPUBLICANSA new poll shows broad support for carbon limits, including half of all Republicans. The poll comes out as scientists warn (as reported in the NY Times) that time is running out on climate change and, without decisive action, the world could eventually become uninhabitable for humans. Today, the Pope added his voice to the overwhelming weight of world scientists that time is running out. Likewise, island nations are now demanding action and calling on the world to witness the loss of their very existence to the rising seas.

In the meeting in Lima, scientists are presenting new data showing that the world’s climate is already changing and that we cannot avoid high costs associated with greenhouse gases but that we can still avoid planetary disaster if we commit to new limits without further delay.

I have long been an advocate of carbon limits to address climate change. While I disagree with some of his methods, I have great respect for President Obama in his making climate change a priority of his Administration.

In Lima, reports indicate that there may be no way to prevent the planet’s temperature from rising and a breach of the 3.6 degree threshold appears inevitable. However, they paint a dire picture that we must soon choose between an unpleasant world and an uninhabitable one.

While the GOP is often portrayed as anti-environmental, the Republican base contains many who believe not only in stronger environmental laws but carbon limits to address climate change. In the latest poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Yale University, six out of ten Americans support regulation of carbon dioxide pollution. More importantly, this figure includes one out of every two Republicans. There is a sharp disconnect between such views and the actions of both parties in Congress in resisting limits and other changes designed to reduce greenhouse gases. Certainly, the GOP is not nearly as monolithic as commentary would often suggest on the issue of environmental protection.

Source: FOX

77 thoughts on “Poll: Half of Republicans Favor Carbon Limits As Scientists Warn Of “Uninhabitable” Planet”

  4. From COPP

    Published on Dec 12, 2014
    http://democracynow.org – For the first time ever, delegates at the U.N. Climate Change Conference are talking about entirely phasing out fossil fuels by 2050, setting up a showdown with the energy industry that profits from their extraction. We speak to Jamie Henn of 350.org about the state of the U.N. talks, the world’s growing divestment movement, and President Obama’s comments casting doubt on the Keystone XL this week on “The Colbert Report.”

    http://youtu.be/va7v8Ag4pr4

  7. What’s the downside?

    Where, here’s one. The CA Air Quality Resources Board, with unelected officials, has power to enact sweeping rules without a single vote. For instance, CARB required “carbon filters” that damaged truck engines, and required drivers to drive empty trucks for hours to burn off soot buildup, causing a net negative environmental impact, and driving small companies out of business.

    A semi costs as much as some houses. Owner operators cannot recover if their truck gets destroyed by a poorly thought out filter requirement. With proper maintenance, trucks can last for many years. Instead of gradually improving the fleet on the road by improving technology in new models every year, they’ve made a sweeping gesture and gone after all of them.

    There are many, many scandals with the CARB here in CA.

    http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20131113/north-state-alliance-files-lawsuit-over-california-air-resources-board-regulation

  8. Regardless of whether climate change is anthropogenic, if CO2 and recognized pollutants keep increasing, we will eventually reach a gaseous profile that is not optimal for mammalian life.

    What bothers me the most is that Climate Change is the sexy, cache cause celebre. Boatloads of money go towards CC, with crumbs left over to combat universally recognized pollutants. We have managed to contaminate the entire ocean with mercury, making most predator fish too toxic for pregnant women to consume. But where are the conferences and bumper stickers for that? What about arsenic contamination?

    We literally cannot stop the climate from changing, because it always has. And why should we freeze, pardon the pun, the climate at today’s values? When the Earth was warmer it teemed with life, with quite a proliferation of species. During its cold and dry periods, we had megafauna like the Megaceros, Direwolves, and Mammoth. Many species went extinct when the climate changed to its current levels. Polar bears evolved because the climate changed.

    If we concentrate our efforts on combating universally recognized pollutants and contaminants, we could make our environment healthier for all life forms NOW.

  9. DBQ,

    Would you invite these folks to over for a dinner party tonight? They don’t know anything about WWI, WWII or what planet we live on.

    Something strange happens in this video at the 8:15 mark. The one with banana and machete gifts (on the right). He says thank you and blows a kiss. You can hear the lips smack in the audio.

  10. I don’t see a downside to saving our world.

    Only if it is a real issue and not yet another drummed up false narrative meant to scare and control people. I see a downside in rushing to judgement and making ridiculous rules that destroy our civilization in the meantime.

    In my lifetime, there have been multiple scary doomsday scenarios. In the 1970’s we were going to freeze from an iceage. Now we are going to burn up. California is in a horrible drought like the one in the mid 70’s and we were all going to DIE then, dry up and blow away……however, in one winter back them, we had a recovery in the snow pack and everything was good….so then we found something else to be frightened about. With this last 2 days of storms, we are back at 75% or more of snow pack and there is more to come. I guess the panic is over……of course they won’t fix future issues by creating more water storage. JUST like the 1970’s. Drought over….nothing to see here….move along.

    Trans fat…good….bad…whatever. Butter is bad…eat margarine. Oh wait. Margarine is bad…eat butter. Carbs are the way to go and lower that protein intake. Wait. Carbs make us fat. Eat more fish and meat. Cholesterol. good or bad? How many lives have been ruined by this stupid food pyramid scheme?

    I…DO…NOT….BELIEVE….THEM. They lie and lie and lie and lie. They have lied to me my entire life. And they want us to rush to judgement just like in the ginned up stories about racism that we are experiencing now.

    DO I want a clean environment. Of course. That’s why I live where I do and live the lifestyle that I do. You all should try it….but you won’t.

    Should we cut back on dirty fuels like coal. You bet. However, the alternatives need to be there first or at the same time to avoid people freezing to death in the winters or starving because we have gone back to a Medieval style of agriculture. Talk about being luddites. THIS is what it is all about. The Global Warming nazis do not like technology and want to return to some sort of mythical Eden that never existed. Well…..everyone except for themselves that is/

    The science is far from settled. Water vapor is the biggest component of green house gasses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas. Cow farts are not going to kill us. If that were the case we would have been killed off by the millions of buffalo roaming the plains.

    The climate changes all of the time and has done so for millions and MILLIONS of years without man’s help. It is a NATURAL cycle of the earth and the sun and our rotation around the sun.

    If you all want to live in a darkened 10 x 10 hut and rub two sticks together in the name of Gaia and without any proof……WHILE the Gores of the world live in luxury…..go ahead. Be pawns. Be dupes. I won’t.

  12. I don’t see a downside to saving our world. It’s obvious the need to stop our own destruction.

  13. An American guy on the plane yesterday said that today was Bill of Rights Day in America and that it was proclaimed by your President FDR in 1941 or so. I so not see any news of this event in the media or on the websites.

  14. Beldar here:
    I am out of China. I stayed in Hong Kong and observed the protests and response. My Planet Remulak is seeking a partner in some projects and a decision was made to move on to another venue. I am in an airport on a traditional commercial airline schedule headed to Berlin. I just got my Deustch program on language. Much like English. War is War! only in Germany they put an exclamation point at the end.
    As far as climate change goes, yes the planet is on a deadly spiral. But if you think Ferguson is bad try China. Smog, smog and dead dogs. Clean air in Ferguson is you disregard the news media. I was not around for the cop strangulation case in NYC but I hear on the webblogs that the chickens are coming home to roost for the New Yorkers who ventured out to Ferguson to condemn. Bigots are in the eye of the beholder.

  15. “Joan
    What difference does it make what Gore’s energy usage is?”

    The same difference it makes for a religious leader preaching about marriage fidelity who has a mistress or two on the side.

  16. I wonder how many “Republicans” in this poll are actually Libertarian? Pollsters don’t really seem to see a difference between the two.

    The big shame in the climate change debate is the lost opportunity to make our planet better. Environmentalists have framed the debate in terms of global warming. It should have been framed in clean air and water and who cares what the reason is.

    How many in the middle and right are hunters, campers, or otherwise enjoy the outdoors? How many want to fish and hunt in clean water and air and land? The left with their luddism and insistence that man is to blame has turned away what should be natural allies in helping to ensure a better environment for all. What a missed opportunity.

  17. All the crying and gnashing of teeth over leaving our grandchildren huge national debt, yet such uncaring attitudes when it comes to leaving our grandchildren a livable earth.

  18. What difference does it make what Gore’s energy usage is?
    Of course he should practice what he preaches and seemingly doesn’t. But that doesn’t change the scientific facts or visual evidence of global climate change. Refusing to believe in or work to change polluting practices (of Exxon, Koch Industries, etc.) until Gore’s electric bill is reduced is childish and short-sighted.

  19. COP20 conference in Peru: Indigenous people demand climate solution.

    The COP20 is shipwrecked by the global crisis of civilization, where the climate and the coloniality, monsters get to Peru, the Amazon and the planet at the edge of the abyss.
    The UN and UNFCCC (Climate Change Convention) have 20 years debating solutions and global warming continues to rise.

    http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.aidesep.org.pe/&prev=search

    Rainforest Airforce: Indigenous Peoples Fly Drones to Protect their Land

  20. Those who do not care about future pollution and who want the present day dollar are those who do not have offspring. I don’t have kids. I don’t care. This planet has been around a long time and maybe its time has come to go the way of Koch Planet. We need to ask Beldar what he tinks.

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