Conservatives in the US are debating important climate issues, such as whether carbon dioxide is good for the environment and whether global warming should be a top priority for humanity in the modern era.
At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is being held through Saturday in suburban Washington, exhibit stands are handing out blue pamphlets urging attendees to contest the notion that human activity is to blame for climate change.
“We know that climate is changing, but at this catastrophic level, we kind of debate that in our organization,” said Gabriella Hoffman, a spokeswoman for CFACT, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow.
At a stand located between a replica of the Oval Office and a display of cookies in the red, white, and blue of the US flag, Hoffman’s association is calling for overhauling what it calls the myth around climate change.
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Of alarming predictions that life on Earth will change drastically for the worse if global warming is not curbed, she said: “Our organization disagrees with that statement because you hear those statements on and on again, and then they turn out to not be so catastrophic.”
The latest alarming report from the UN panel on climate change, countries seeing record high temperatures year in and year out, and other data on global warming are largely exaggerated, said Payne Kilbourn, who stands nearby at a stand covered in pins that say “I love CO2.”
Kilbourn, a nuclear engineer with a group called the CO2 Coalition that was taking part in the convention for the third time, argues that carbon dioxide — released by the burning of fossil fuels, or the decay of organisms, for instance — is good for the planet.
“More CO2 is good for the planet. It helps plants grow,” said Kilbourn, standing by a table offering koozies — cushion-like holders for keeping beverages cold — that read “Chill out. Polar bears are not going anywhere.”
His coalition has been known to make false statements but Kilbourn is nonetheless defiant. “We’re the only scientific booth here. Everybody else is politics and policy and we like to stress the science,” Kilbourn said.
Story adapted France24
