President Obama said in an interview with Vice News published Monday that it’s “disturbing” that Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, does not believe that climate change is real.
Inhofe recently threw a snowball on the Senate floor in an attempt to disprove the existence of climate change.
Vice founder Shane Smith mentioned the incident to President Obama while discussing global warming.
“That’s disturbing,” Obama told Vice News.
Obama added that Sasha and Malia have a better understanding of climate change than his generation does, and that he thinks that will eventually change politicians’ beliefs on climate change.
“I guarantee you that the Republican party will have to change its approach to climate change because voters will insist upon it,” he said.
He added that he “can’t fault somebody” who is more concerned about gas prices than global warming.
“In some cases, though, you have elected officials who are shills for the oil companies or the fossil fuel industry, and there’s a lot of money involved. Typically in Congress, the committees of jurisdiction, like the energy committees, are populated by folks from places that pump a lot of oil and pump a lot of gas,” Obama said.
Smith also told the President that the top question Vice News received from readers was about the legalization of marijuana.
“First of all it shouldn’t be young people’s biggest priority,” Obama said in response. “Let’s put it in perspective. Young people, I understand this is important to you. But you should be thinking about climate change, the economy, jobs, war and peace. Maybe way at the bottom you should be thinking about marijuana.”
