Johnson on Science Friday segment about climate wars in Washington
A green wave is sweeping through Washington, and it’s picking up Republicans who are eager to share their ideas on clean energy and climate change.
Tennessee senator Lamar Alexander has talked about launching a “Manhattan Project for Clean Energy.”
Oklahoma representative Frank Lucas, ranking member of the House Science Committee, has said, “we know the climate is changing and that global industrial activity has played a role in this phenomenon,” and says it’s “critical” that the United States lead the way on developing new clean energy technologies.
Florida representative Matt Gaetz has said “History will judge harshly my Republican colleagues who deny the science of climate change,” and Louisiana representative Garret Graves is the top Republican on a new House climate change committee.
But even as Republican lawmakers turn to shaping climate policy, the White House is doubling down on climate denial, forming a “climate review panel” to vet and discredit the already peer-reviewed science on climate change. The panel’s leader is William Happer, a 79-year-old physicist who once went so far as to say, “the demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.”
So where will climate science end up?
Ira’s joined by marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and climate scientist Michael Mann for a round table conversation about climate politics, policy, and science activism.