http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/?hp=Brown: Fires related to climate change
By JONATHAN TOPAZ |
5/18/14 10:21 AM EDT
California Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday said that the Republican Party is "in denial" about climate change and suggested that the wildfires in his state are related to global warming.
“As we send billions and billions of tons of heat-trapping gases, we get heat and we get fires and we get what we’re seeing," the Democrat said on ABC's "This Week." Major wildfires in the San Diego area forced thousands of residents in the area to evacuate. The fires are realted to extreme drought in the state.
“Humanity is on a collision course with nature and we’re just going to have to adapt to it the best we can," he added.
The governor also took a swipe at Republicans for denying climate change, which he said was likely to blame for the increase in wildfires. “It is true that there’s virtually no Republican who accepts the science that virtually is unanimous," Brown said. "There is no scientific question. There’s just political denial for various reasons best known to those people in denial. But whatever the thoughts of the Republicans, we in California are on the front lines.”
Brown said that the wildfires in California are "under control for the moment," but that the the state is in a serious fire season. Host George Stephanopoulos noted that the state has seen twice as many fires already this year than the average over the last five years.
“As the climate changes, this is going to be radically different future than was our historic past," he added.
Brown touted California as the nation's leader in climate change, and said that the state will continue to make investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
