Business, Military, Faith Leaders & Electeds Slam Scott Pruitt’s Climate Denial on CNBC

from Climate Nexus: http://climatenexus.org/messaging-communication/current-events/scientists-leaders-slam-scott-pruitt%E2%80%99s-televised-climate

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in an interview with CNBC this morning that he doesn’t believe carbon dioxide is a major contributor to climate change.
 
“I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact,” Pruitt told host Joe Kernen. “So no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”
 
Pruitt called to “continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis” of the science behind climate change.
 
While Pruitt has expressed doubt around climate science in the past, this morning’s statements take his stance one step farther to full-on climate denial. It also marks his first comments on the issue as chief of the agency responsible for US policy around carbon emissions.
 
97 percent of scientists agree that human activity overwhelmingly contributes to the warming we see.

Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney, USMC (ret), CEO of the American Security Project:
“Countries are going to pay for climate change one way or another. The best way to pay for it is by tackling the root causes of climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. If we do not, the national security impacts around the world will be increasingly costly, and borne by our men and women in the armed forces.”
 
Andrew Holland, Director of Studies, American Security Project:
“It is astonishing that EPA Director Pruitt said that he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change. However, it does not actually matter what he “believes” – by law (as decided by the Supreme Court), he is required under the Clean Air Act to promulgate policies that reduce carbon pollution. It is important that the EPA continues to regulate carbon pollution in order to reduce the risk of serious national security consequences of climate change.”
 
Mayor James Brainard of Carmel, Indiana:
“I am not a scientist but I believe we need to pay attention to what people who have dedicated their lives to a field of study have to say. I am disappointed by the risky and extremely liberal approach taken by Administrator Pruitt when he challenges the scientists conclusions that humans contribute to global warming.  A true conservative would cautiously take the position carefully researched by the scientific community as correct. A true conservative would hesitate to risk our future on non-scientific opinions.”  
 
Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken, New Jersey:
“The EPA is supposed to protect Americans from pollution and the impacts of climate change. Hoboken is a coastal community on the front lines of climate change that was devastated by Superstorm Sandy, which left our city underwater for days. EPA Administrator Pruitt’s denial of the basic cause of climate change is dangerous and will put communities across the country at greater risk."
 
NASA Chief Major General Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., (USMC-Ret.):
“…2015’s record temperatures are the result of the gradual, yet accelerating, build up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists have been warning about it for decades and now we are experiencing it.”
 
Dr. Georges Benjamin, MD, Executive Director, American Public Health Association:
“Pruitt is just wrong. Carbon dioxide emissions pose an enormous risk to human health. Carbon pollution is the leading contributor to greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Climate change is causing more heatwaves and drought, more intense extreme weather events, expanded range of disease-carrying ticks and mosquitoes and a host of other threats to health. In addition, carbon emissions contribute to increased smog which triggers asthma attacks and aggravates existing lung disease. The science is clear. We need immediate action to reduce carbon emissions to protect public health.”
 
Aron Cramer, President and CEO, Business for Social Responsibility:
“EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s statement today questioning climate science is deeply troubling. Businesses in the United States and elsewhere are keenly aware that human activity is remaking the climate in ways that create disruption and business risk. In addition to the obvious and substantial human and environmental damage that will result, his approach will undermine the conditions that businesspeople need to innovate, create jobs, and compete in the global marketplace.”
 
Pastor Leo Woodbury, Kingdom Living Temple, Peoples Climate March Steering Committee Member:
“People can choose to believe anything including that the earth is flat, however for the people who suffer the impact of carbon emissions, weather-related disasters and illness, climate change is real.
 
Aura Vasquez, Director of Climate Justice, Center for Popular Democracy:
“It’s an atrocity to hear EPA Chief Scott Pruitt say that CO2 is not the primary driver of global warming. Disregarding the science is going to impact millions of people that are affected and struggling with the impacts of climate change, especially those in the most vulnerable communities. There is a real issue with the current administration - they don't respect the sizable amount of research on climate change attribution and that’s an insult to the personal experience of millions of Americans already feeling the effects of greenhouse gas pollution. More than ever, we need to take to the streets on April 29th for the People's Climate March in Washington, D.C. to show that human-caused climate change is real and poses a serious threat to our health, our families and our planet.”
 
Leah Seligmann, director of The B Team’s Net Zero by 2050 Initiative:
“The statements by EPA administrator Scott Pruitt questioning whether CO2 is a pollutant are deeply troubling, and contrary to globally accepted, empirical, scientific evidence. Furthermore, the business case for transitioning to clean, renewable energy is clear and compelling.  Enlightened companies are already moving from an economy powered principally by CO2-spewing fossil fuels to one driven by clean energy.  We encourage the US administration to stay the course with policies which promote and accelerate this transition."
 
Nigel Topping, CEO, We Mean Business:
“This morning Scott Pruitt, the new EPA Administrator spoke to CNBC and claimed that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not “a primary contributor to global warming”. With this statement the Administrator finds himself at odds with science. The scientific community is clear. Global warming is real, accelerating and caused by human activity with CO2 responsible for between 75% and 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. This finding is backed by 97% of climate scientists and is the consistent result of peer reviewed scientific investigations going back three decades. The Administrator is also at odds with political leaders around the world. 196 countries have signed the Paris Agreement on climate change, including the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels, because they understand that CO2 is the primary cause of global warming and needs to be reduced. And the administrator is at odds with the business community, who are making record commitments to reduce their CO2 emissions. More than five hundred companies have made commitments to address CO2 emissions through the We Mean Business platform because they see reducing CO2 through clean energy as the new market opportunity of the 21st century. We urge Administrator Pruitt to recognize the scientific, political, and business consensus, and lead the EPA in its vital mission to safeguard people, planet and prosperity.”
 
Rear Admiral David W. Titley, United States Navy (Ret.):
“Within the science community, the link between CO2 and climate change is as well known as the consequences of stepping out of an airplane and the effect of gravity.  In both cases, if you ignore the science, someone is going to get hurt.”
 
Patrick Carolan, Executive Director of the Franciscan Action Network:
"Scott Pruitt's denial that CO2 is a contributor of climate change confirms his disbelief of a century of fact based science, which even Pope Francis supports. There should be no discussion; protecting the climate is a matter of faith and morality. We should be protecting God's creation, not destroying it. Denying climate science goes against the teachings of Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi."
 
Nathaniel Smith, Founder and Chief Equity Officer, Partnership for Southern Equity:
“It’s disturbing to hear the person appointed as our chief environmental steward has chosen to turn away from years of scientific evidence. In vulnerable communities where the byproducts of climate change are felt the hardest the “inconvenient truth” has become a truth measured by life or death.”