Buttigieg tells Americans to stop questioning climate change: ‘No time to argue’
Dani Repass
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on The View and told the audience that they must not question climate change.
“There’s no time to argue about whether [climate change] is real,” Buttigieg said. “I used to think of climate change as a future issue, doing right by future generations and what’s it going to be like in 2050. But this is one more example of what’s going on right now in 2021. It’s happening, and it’s incredibly dangerous.”
Weather experts have concluded that the heatwave sweeping the nation is due to many factors, rather than climate change. National Weather Service meteorologist Robin Fox said she would refrain from attributing the heatwave to climate change and instead said that the extreme heat is due to a ‘large area of high pressure’ that’s bringing ‘historic heat’ to the region. Scientists have concluded that climate change may be responsible for adding a degree or two to the temperature but is not responsible for the wave as a whole.
“This is a highly unusual weather event that we’re dealing with,” Nick Bond, an atmospheric science professor, said. “That’s why we’re having [this heatwave], in which all the factors that tend to make it hot in the Pacific Northwest are all working together.”
The heatwave is also causing transportation infrastructure throughout the Pacific Northwest to falter, which Buttigieg took as an opportunity to advocate for President Biden’s infrastructure package. Biden announced last week that he had reached an infrastructure deal, touting bipartisanship as Republicans like Tim Scott (R-SC) lent a hand in ensuring the package was acceptable on both sides of the aisle. Later on, though, Biden announced the package was passed ‘in tandem’ with a reconciliation bill filled with trillion-dollar spending and Democrat pork such as Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) bridge from New York to Canada. True to form, Buttigieg urged his audience on The View to drive electric vehicles or take public transportation.
“It’s important to make sure that we help Americans afford and drive electric vehicles,” Buttigieg said. “We have to make sure we have alternatives like public transit and make sure it’s easier for people to get around without having to bring a vehicle sometimes.”
Buttigieg was caught back in March staging a “phony” PR stunt by pretending to ride his bike to a cabinet meeting. The video footage showed Buttigieg’s security detail taking his bike from the back of an SUV, setting it up for him, and then following him in the car to the meeting as he biked the remaining blocks to the Capitol.