What do the Republican Candidates Believe About Climate Change?

Y= Believes in it N= does not believe in it

Donald Trump: N

Donald Trump On Climate Change: ‘I Believe It Goes Up And It Goes Down’

 

“So I am not a believer, and I will, unless somebody can prove something to me, I believe there’s weather.”

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has rendered his opinion on climate change, and it is characteristically off-kilter.

 

“Unless somebody can prove something to me, I believe there’s weather. I believe there’s change,” Trump told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.

 

In a confusing exchange with Hewitt, Trump rattled off several non sequiturs on global temperatures. Trump says that “people in the 1920s thought the Earth was cooling, now it’s global warming,” implying that all subsequent climate science is nonsense.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-global-warming_5601d04fe4b08820d91aa753

Ben Carson: N

Ben Carson Not Convinced on Global Warming

The potential 2016 candidate says the focus should be on eco-friendly ways of developing the nation’s energy resources.

Ben Carson is a man of science. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he believes in global warming.

 

“There’s always going to be either cooling or warming going on,” the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate said in an interview this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s irrelevant. What is relevant is that we have an obligation and a responsibility to protect our environment.”

 

Carson, a retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, often talks about his medical background and science during his speeches. Pressed on the fact that the bulk of the scientific community believes the Earth is indeed warming, Carson pivoted. “You can ask it several different ways, but my answer is going to be the same,” he said. “We may be warming. We may be cooling.”

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-11-26/ben-carson-not-convinced-on-global-warming

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Ted Cruz: N

Ted Cruz Says Climate-Change Fears Falsified by Scientists and Politicians

 

Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday said facts don’t support climate change, in a speech that described the notion as a front for power-hungry politicians who want to control Americans’ lives.

 

During an appearance before some of the most influential conservative donors in the country, the Texas Republican said there is no factual basis for scientists’ research that shows the planet is changing. The 2016 White House hopeful said none of the research is worth the paper it is printed on.

 

http://time.com/3981623/ted-cruz-climate-change/

 

…But on global warming, Cruz was unmitigated in his argument against the credibility of environmental advocates concerned about the issue.

 

“I am the child of two mathematicians and scientists. I believe in following evidence and data,” he said. “On the global warming alarmists, anyone who actually points to the evidence that disproves their apocalyptical claims, they don’t engage in reasoned debate.”…

 

“What do they do? They scream, ‘You’re a denier.’ They brand you a heretic,” he added. “Today, the global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-earthers.”

 

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/24/ted-cruz-texas-tribune-interview/

John Kasich: Y

This GOP Presidential Candidate Actually Believes in Climate Change. But He Doesn’t Want to Fix It.

 

John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, is announcing his bid for the presidency Tuesday. Unlike most of his GOP opponents, Kasich actually believes that climate change is real.

 

“I happen to believe there is a problem with climate change,” he told the Hill in 2012. “I don’t want to overreact to it, I can’t measure it all, but I respect the creation that the Lord has given us and I want to make sure we protect it.”

 

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/07/john-kasich-climate-change

Marco Rubio: Y

Marco Rubio Says He’s Fine With The Pope’s Climate Change Positioning

 

WASHINGTON — Is Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who would like to be the Republican presidential contender in 2016, softening his stance on climate change?

 

“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” Rubio said last year.

 

But as the Palm Beach Post reports, Rubio took a more diplomatic approach Saturday in response to questions about the encyclical on climate change that the head of the Roman Catholic Church issued last week…

 

But he did not criticize the Pope for weighing in on climate, as some of his fellow Republicans, including Jeb Bush, have done.

 

“I have no problem with what the pope did. He is a moral authority and as a moral authority is reminding us of our obligation to be good caretakers of the planet,” said Rubio. “I’m a political leader and my job as a policymaker is to act in the common good. And I do believe it’s in the common good to protect our environment.”

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/23/marco-rubio-climate-change_n_7648446.html