For years, the rise of climate denial in U.S. politics has become more mainstream. Now, nearly one in four lawmakers in Congress believes in dismantling legislation surrounding climate change, even as the alarms are sounding from scientists and experts around the globe.
A total of 123 representatives elected to the House and the Senate have positioned themselves as deniers of human-caused climate change. All of them are Republicans, and according to a recent study of current members, this number could be growing.
What the Report Found
A report created by the Center for American Progress, which reviewed the opinions of all elected lawmakers, uncovered “definitely concerning” information about the number of climate change deniers currently making laws in the US.
The report was able to define a climate denier as anyone who says that the climate crisis is either not real or not caused by humans or made any relevant claims that climate science is up for debate, that global temperatures do not cause extreme and violent weather patterns or that planet-warming pollution can actually benefit humans.
Highlights From Top Deniers
One of the most well-known climate deniers in the House of Representatives is Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who said in 2018, “Of course, the climate is changing. The climate has been changing from the dawn of time. The climate will change as long as we have a planet Earth.”
Along with his sentiments, Cruz often fights against climate-resolving legislation for his state and has been known to skip town during times of turmoil and extreme hurricanes.
Steve Scalise On the Matter
Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise spoke about climate change in a now-infamous 2021 interview, in which he also cited long-debunked research often cited by climate change deniers.
“We’ve had freezing periods in the 1970s. They said it was going to be a new cooling period,” he said. “And now it gets warmer and gets colder, and that’s called Mother Nature. But the idea that hurricanes or wildfires were caused just in the last few years is just fallacy.”
Climate Denial is Funded by Fossil Fuel Companies
In total, climate deniers in the US government have received a total of $52 million in lifetime campaign donations directly from fossil fuel companies and industry lobbyists.
This worrying trend speaks to a bigger issue of lawmakers being bought out by companies and voting in the best interests of corporate donors instead of the people in their constituencies.
Numbers in Congress Are Not Representative of the General Population
Research performed on the American public shows that the number of people in Congress with this view does not represent the greater population.
Although 23% of the entire US Congress is made up of people who would like to ignore and dismiss the climate crisis, polls show that Americans with this extreme view is smaller by a half.
Many More Americans Are Worried About the Climate Crisis
While the number of Americans who believe that the climate crisis is either being exaggerated or completely made up has remained the same over recent years, the number of people very concerned about climate change is growing quickly.
More than half of Americans say they are “alarmed” or “concerned” about climate change and how the worsening weather patterns may affect them.
A Study at Yale Backs up Figures
A recent Yale survey sought to find the facts on the case.
Anthony Leiserowitz, an expert in climate public opinion at the university, said, “The amount of people at each end of the spectrum – alarmed and dismissive – were essentially tied back in 2013 but today there are three alarmed people for every one dismissive, so there’s been a fundamental shift in how people see climate change in the US.”
Number of Climate Deniers in Congress Has Actually Lessened
Although it can be alarming to hear that so many US law makers don’t understand or agree with the facts of climate change, the number has actually decreased over a number of years.
Just five years ago, a similar poll showed that 150 lawmakers denied the crisis. However, as the climate crisis worsens exponentially over time, the lawmakers in charge of thwarting beneficial legislation mean that greenhouse gases are constantly growing and polar ice caps are melting quicker now than ever.
Florida Continues to Deny Climate Change in Legislation
Earlier this year, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a bill that effectively scrubbed the phrase “climate change” for all past and future legislation in Florida.
The new law took effect on July 1st, although the coastal state has already begun to feel the brunt of rising oceans and warming temperatures, which are causing massive storms and floods throughout the state.
Getting Harder to Deny
Although some of the climate-denier lawmakers are moving forward on harmful bills in their home states, the effects of climate change and global warming are becoming impossible to ignore.
During the summers now, it’s irrefutable that forests are burning down at record rates, hot spots are reaching temperatures well-above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks at a time, and millions of animals and marine life are being killed due to extreme temps.
Climate Change Denial is Often a Mark of Worse Opinions
The extremes of climate change denial have often come along with some outlandish claims against green power; for example, in the 1990s, lawmakers claimed that wind power from turbines in the ocean would kill whales, an unsubstantiated claim.
It seems just as harmful that climate change deniers in Congress want to bury their heads in the sand but also want to actively denounce possible solutions to rising temperatures and worsening hurricanes, floods, and landslides across the country.
