Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) said Monday that it is “foolish” to believe humans can cause climate change.
MSNBC host Richard Lui had asked Miller if he thought messaging against man-made climate change would be detrimental to Republicans’ 2014 and 2016 election prospects. Lui cited a poll of Florida voters who said that on the issue of climate change they trusted scientists over Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who does not believe human activity contributes to global warming, by a margin of 56 to 33 percent.
“Well, I think anybody would answer a poll and say that they believe the scientists, but you have to understand that it is not settled science,” Miller said. “The issue of climate change has been happening for a long time, and for us to be able to think that we, as matter of fact, can change what’s going on right now to any substantive measure is really kind of foolish in my opinion.”
Miller argued that the climate has been changing for centuries and that scientists, whether they believe human activity contributes to climate change or not, acknowledge that the issue is not settled.
“So you agree that it is changing?” Lui asked.
“I’ve never said that it wasn’t changing,” Miller responded.
“To a deleterious effect?” Lui asked.
“It changes. It gets hot, it gets cold, it’s done it for as long as we’ve measured the climate,” Miller said.
“But, manmade, isn’t that the question?” Lui pressed.
“Then why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Were there men that were causing — were there cars running around at that point that were causing global warming? No,” Miller concluded. “The climate has changed since Earth was created.”
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