ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (July 9, 2019) – Today, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced a “Climate Energy Resolution.” The resolution calls for “a national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization of the resources and labor of the United States at a massive-scale to halt, reverse, mitigate, and prepare for the consequences of the climate emergency and to restore the climate for future generations.”
The resolution mirrors the unanimously rejected Green New Deal, which threatened to completely upend the U.S. economy and produce very little effects on global climate.
The Heartland Institute will be discussing this new resolution, as well as the Green New Deal, and also examining the latest data on the climate that shows human activity is not causing a climate crisis at the 13th International Conference on Climate Change on July 25 in Washington, DC. For more information about the conference, including applying for press credentials, please visit the conference website.
The following statements from environment policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.
“There truly is a climate emergency—for Democratic politicians. U.S. and global crop production sets new records virtually every year as our planet modestly warms. NASA satellites have documented a tremendous greening of the Earth due to more atmospheric carbon dioxide. Objective data show extreme weather events are becoming less frequent and severe. And warming temperatures will continue to make cold temperatures, which peer-reviewed research shows kill 20 times more people than hot or warm temperatures, less frequent and deadly.
“All of these positive developments amount to a climate emergency for Democratic politicians who are running out of excuses for their political fearmongering. Fortunately, these developments signal a ‘peace dividend’ of tax dollars that can be directed to better uses or given back to the people rather than being wasted on pointless climate-scare programs.”
James Taylor
Senior Fellow for Environmental Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“The ‘scientific community,’ whatever that is, is in no position to state the world has only 12 years to avert climate disaster. Government scientists, and those in the private sector who conduct research largely funded by government grants, have for years ignored the hard data showing humanity’s contribution to climate change is minimal at best. The proposals to fight climate change will have almost no effect on preventing temperatures from rising, sea levels from increasing, or hurricanes from forming.
“Rather these proposals rely on computer models that have been repeatedly shown to be fundamentally invalid for making predictions about the climate, but great for giving power to politicians and bureaucrats who support expanded government control over the economy.”
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Environment & Energy Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Environment & Climate News
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“The term ‘climate emergency’ is a construct in the minds of people who aren’t paying attention to reality and real climate data, but rather looking at projections from computer models. In June 1989, a U.N. official said ‘entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.’ That was based on a model forecast. Here we are 30 years later and those entire nations remain.
“In reality, sea level data, temperature data, and rainfall data over the past 30 years don’t even come close to supporting these wild prognostications. We’d be better served by real-world decisions than fear based projections.”
Anthony Watts
Senior Fellow
The Heartland Institute
312/377-4000
[email protected]
The Heartland Institute is a 35-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our website or call 312/377-4000.
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News.
Anthony Watts is a senior fellow for environment and climate at The Heartland Institute.
