Sen. Ted Cruz called those who say that human activities are driving climate change “modern day Flat Earth proponents” in recent comments to the Washington Examiner.
The Texas Republican became the first major 2016 presidential candidate Monday when he formally announced he would seek the GOP nomination. As the campaign heats up, questions on climate change may surface.
In the early stages, Republican candidates may seek to establish conservative bona fides by rejecting or questioning human-fueled global warming, which many scientists say is caused primarily by burning greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. But as the general election draws closer, environmentalists and left-of-center groups have targeted the issue as a potential wedge that they say could influence independents.
While many Republicans are skeptical of or deny that humans have an impact on the climate, saying the climate has always been changing due to natural variations, some are charting a different course. In January, 15 GOP senators said they thought humans were affecting the climate, with five of them saying humans are doing so “significantly.”
“The global warming alarmists in their treatment of those looking to the facts and evidence often behave like modern day Flat Earth proponents,” Cruz told the Examiner March 17.
Cruz’s comments emulate remarks he made last week on the NBC talk show “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” In the interview, Cruz floated familiar conservative rejections of the science behind global warming, though he also touched on the scientific debate regarding the accuracy of climate change modeling.
The Tea Party favorite’s reasoning on climate change hinges on the belief often repeated by conservatives that global surface temperatures have decreased over the past 15 years.
The rate of warming has slowed during that period, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, but temperatures are increasing. Last year was the hottest recorded globally, and nine of the 10 hottest years recorded have been since 2000, NOAA says. New research by NOAA and others also says the bulk of the world’s warming is occurring deep in the ocean.
Here are Cruz’s unedited comments to the Examiner:
“I think debates on these issues should be driven by the science and the data and the evidence. Global warming alarmists don’t like to confront the actual evidence because it does not support their apocalyptic theories.
“Specifically, satellite data demonstrate there has been no warming over the past 17 years. That’s despite the fact that the computer models relied upon for this theory showed there would be significant warming, and yet the actual data don’t back up those flawed computer models. So what did the alarmists do? Rather than look to science to understand what’s happening, they simply modified the theory.
“Now you don’t hear them talking about global warming, you hear them talking merely about climate change. The reason for that alteration is because the data demonstrate the Earth is not warming. And I would note whenever anyone makes that point, you immediately get vilified as a quote-unquote ‘denier’ without anyone actually refuting the facts.
“And the language of denial is revealing because one usually hears of deniers in the religious context, dealing with heretics. And much of the global warming hysteria is pushed forth as a religious truth that no facts can dare contravene.
“It is altogether worrisome when you have scientists treating matters — denouncing those pointing to the actual facts and data as deniers. And indeed I would point out that was the exact same conduct the Flat Earth people demonstrated toward Galileo. And the global warming alarmists in their treatment of those looking to the facts and evidence often behave like modern day Flat Earth proponents.”
