Badass Little Girl Confronts Climate-Denying Congressman With Brilliant Question
Badass Little Girl Confronts Climate-Denying Congressman With Brilliant Question
And then invited him to her science class.
Voters aren't letting their representatives get away with climate change denial, especially at their town halls this week. Even those too young to vote are getting in on the action, like at a Wednesday town hall in Colorado Springs, where one girl confronted her congressman.
"You don't want to pursue renewable energy, but please reconsider," the girl, who identified herself as Haven, said. Haven made her thorough case for solar and wind, noting that these fast-growing jobs were a retraining opportunity for veterans, while reliance on coal, which has the downside of making people sick, is declining. She concluded with an invitation to Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) to join her science class next Friday, receiving cheers and applause from the 110 people in attendance. The class will include a presentation on climate change, she added.
In the past, Lamborn has rejected the scientific consensus on climate change and opposed legislation to address the problem. In 2013, according to The Mountain Mail, Lamborn said there are "a lot of contentious facts and claims about global warming and whether it is man made," adding there is "not much unanimity." He's pledged to the Koch-funded conservative political advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity to oppose any climate legislation that leads to more government revenue and, in 2014, argued that the federal government should not issue regulations for the domestic energy industry "designed to curb the possibility of climate change hundreds of years in the future."
The House Natural Resources Committee member only addressed the first part of Haven's comment, which focused on supporting renewable-energy jobs for veterans. He told Haven he supported all kinds of jobs and believed "in an all-the-above energy policy," including hydrocarbons, nuclear, hydropower, and solar. His answer prompted another woman to shout, "How can you sit here and lie to us? You're lying to us."
Watch the encounter below:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/04/watch-young-girl-invite-republican-congressman-her-science-class
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,855 posts)in coal mining, need to be asked over and over just how many jobs they think they'll bring back. And then be asked if they know how many people are employed in renewable energy jobs.
According to some quick internet research, in 1920, the peak year, there were some 784,621 coal miners. Nowadays about 80,000. Solar energy alone employs at least 200,000. Then there are all the other renewable sector jobs.
Precise numbers can be a bit tricky to find, but the reality is that coal jobs are never going to come back, just as stables inside cities to stable your horse when you went to town are never coming back. Or manufacturing buggies to be drawn by horses. Lots of other examples come to mind.
mwooldri
(10,303 posts)A solar plant on every house, add on a small windmill and some battery backup... Finance the thing for House owners... There's a lot of jobs, money and such right there. Sure those jobs will have to retrain for the next big thing later on but this is the energy future.
Also last I checked West Virginia is quite hilly. I'm sure there's a stiff breeze up there. Time to build windmills...
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,855 posts)Some retraining is going to be more extensive than other retraining.
Hollandscotts
(14 posts)...is that none of the proposed solution actually address the problem which has been over hyped while real environmental issues go unaddressed.
bigbrother05
(5,995 posts)JudyM
(29,236 posts)gopiscrap
(23,759 posts)Skittles
(153,160 posts)and what are the "real" environmental issues
let me grab some popcorn