Question: Do you believe that human activity is significantly or primarily contributing to the earth’s warming climate and, if so, what policies would you like to see put in place to deal with it?
Jon Huntsman: I don’t know. I’m not scientist, nor am I a physicist, but I would defer to science on that discussion.
And I would say that the scientific community owes us more in terms of a better description or explanation about what might lie beneath all of this.
But there is not enough information right now to be able to formulate policies in terms of addressing it overall, primarily because it’s a global issue.
We can enact policies hear, but I wouldn’t want to unilaterally disarm as a country.
I wouldn’t want to hinder job creators during a time when our economy is flat.
When you’ve got other nations that are major emitters and they’re not willing to play by the same playbook, then you’ve got a real problem.
So as for me, I’m not one who is going to unilaterally disarm our economy or our job creators in this country.
Complete video of Jon Huntsman at the Heritage Foundation, with his remarks on global warming starting at 34:51:
Update:
Jon Huntsman reiterated his belief in climate science on December 7, 2011 while responding to questions from reporters:
When you have 99 out of 100 climate scientists, there’s enough there for us to say we have an established body of science.
Now it would be a very good thing to coordinate that science with the other major emitters on the globe, recognizing that it is an international problem.
I don’t want to disadvantage this country during a time when we are weak economically and want to get back on our feet.
Get the full story on Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69981.html#ixzz1fw9H056X
Looks like a pretty ridiculous flip-flop. On the other hand, I think his skepticism is born of a reflexive desire to defend our country. In Durban right now, they're seriously talking about requiring us to cut more than 100% of our greenhouse gasses by 2040 (yes, seriously). The uncomfortable reality is that "solving" the problem of climate change requires sacrifices that no American is prepared to make.
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