Rick Santorum thinks the concept of man-made climate change is both “patently absurd” and part of a “scheme” by the left to get more government regulation.
Santorum was on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show Wednesday, where he was asked whether he agrees with Mitt Romney’s comments from last Friday, embracing the universally accepted science of man-made climate change.
Santorum replied:
I believe the earth gets warmer and I also believe the earth gets cooler, and I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man, through the production of CO2 — which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the manmade part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas — is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd.
Santorum continued that the idea of man-made climate change may be part of a liberal conspiracy: “To me this is an opportunity for the left to create — it’s really a beautifully concocted scheme because they know that the earth is gonna cool and warm. It’s been on a warming trend so they said, ‘Oh, let’s take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it’s getting warmer.'”
“It’s just an excuse for more government control of your life,” he added, “and I’ve never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative.”
Here’s the audio:
This is not the first time Santorum has denied that man-made global warming exists, as far back as 2008 writing a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer , calling global warming “media hype” and claiming that “global temperatures have actually cooled over the last 10 years and are predicted to continue cooling over the next 10.”
He has also said that intelligent design “is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes.”
