Well, maybe Hell didn’t freeze over, but the country certainly has. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate Republican Conference chair, on Sunday admitted during an appearance on Fox News that humans contribute to present climate change, reported Salon.
“Well, look, climate change is occurring, it’s always occurring, Chris,” Thune told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. “There are a number of factors that contribute to that, including human activity. The question is, what are we going to do about it and at what cost?”
Considering that Thune is still a Republican, and as Salon noted, he will probably recommend or push nothing to respond to climate change. In fact, he’s a strong supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would certainly become a severe environmental threat to the country. Referring to the climate deals between Obama and China, Thune said “what the president agreed to was a bad deal.”
The pipeline is basically a high-speed express lane for tar sands intended for refining. However, the fuel produced from tar sands is far dirtier than standard crude oil and natural gas. Sure, Thune’s admission is a positive thing. But it’s for nothing; he’ll still be anchored down by an entire party of politicians that stay quiet about climate change or just simply deny it.
Scientific consensus and strong evidence supporting climate change are often lampooned by Republicans as junk science. Therefore, the party insists on continuous support of fossil fuel usage mainly under the guise of job creation. However, the Keystone CEO has already admitted that the pipeline will only create 50 permanent jobs.
One Republican admitting that humans contribute to climate change isn’t going to change anything, especially if this Republican doesn’t make any call to action. Thune’s failure to ever try to influence his party make his words empty and worthless.
