When asked whether CO2 emissions are primarily responsible for climate change, Perry told CNBC’s “Squawk Box”: “No, most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.”
“The fact is this shouldn’t be a debate about, ‘Is the climate changing, is man having an effect on it?’ Yeah, we are. The question should be just how much, and what are the policy changes that we need to make to effect that?” he said.
Granted, Perry did not dismiss outright, the idea that CO2 emissions are a driving force behind global warming, he just argued that we should be having a different kind of discussion.
So based on that comment, I suppose we should be concerned about the ocean waters and our environment. This is what is commonly called “Political double-talk” – Meaning that you disagree but saying it in a way that doesn’t sound like you are disagreeing.
One thing is for sure, the DOE and Scott Pruitt’s EPA are marching to the very same drummer. In March, Pruitt told CNBC’s Squawk Box, “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, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”
Perry is right in line with the White House stance on climate change. It is far easier to cast doubt on science because this appeals to skeptics and outright deniers of any kind of science.
Yet scientists in the Department of Energy, EPA, NOAA, NASA and well-respected universities across the country have all said the CO2 emissions are responsible for climate change.
But Perry did end up taking the bipartisan route, effectively avoiding the “political third-rail,” reports the UK’s Daily Mail. “So the point is, are we going to continue to have innovation that helps effect in a positive way our environment?’ he asked himself. ‘Absolutely,” the energy secretary answered.
“And I’m excited about what we’re going to see coming out of our national labs, coming out of the private sector, working in concert with public and private sector opportunities,” Perry said.
But let’s mention some facts that are real and cannot be disputed: Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, most cabinet departments have removed any mention of global warming from their websites, and environmental protections are being rolled-back, one by one.
By the way, the Earth’s atmospheric COs level recorded at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii (NOAA-ESRL) for June 13 was 409.63 ppm.
