Brown Slams "Blatant Attacks On Science" In SOS Speech
In his State of the State address Tuesday morning, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) delivered an impassioned defense of climate action while decrying what he described as the Trump administration’s attacks on science and basic facts. While Brown has previously made waves with comments about his state’s commitment to the issue of climate change, Tuesday’s speech may be among his most defiant yet.
“The recent election and inauguration of a new president has shown deep divisions across America,” Brown said in his speech. “While no one knows what the new leaders will actually do, there are signs that are disturbing. We’ve seen the bold assertion of ‘alternative facts,’ whatever those are. We’ve heard the blatant attacks on science.”
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t’s not the first time Brown has turned heads with his comments about national politics. In a December speech to the American Geophysical Union, he reiterated the state’s resistance to any efforts to roll back national climate policies, stating, “We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the lawyers and we’re ready to fight.” In the same speech, he also addressed comments from a Trump campaign adviser who suggested that NASA climate research could be discontinued under the new administration. “If Trump turns off the satellites, California will launch its own damn satellite,” he told the audience.
And in Tuesday’s speech, Brown made another plea for a commitment to sound science moving forward. “Above all, we have to live in the truth,” he said. “When the science is clear, and when our own eyes tell us that the seats in this chamber are filled and the sun is shining, we must say so — not construct some alternative universe of non-facts that we find more pleasing.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/24/in-a-fiery-speech-california-gov-jerry-brown-defends-climate-action-and-attacks-alternative-facts/?utm_term=.e772c4adc2a3
