In an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin continued her refusal to endorse the scientific consensus on man-made global warming. Palin claimed there is some human contribution to climate change, but she also added the common right-wing claim that global warming is a result of “cyclical” weather patterns:
COURIC: Is it manmade in your view?
PALIN: You know, there are man’s activities that can be contributed to the issues that we’re dealing with now, with these impacts. I’m not going to solely blame all of man’s activities on changes in climate because the world’s weather patterns are cyclical and over our history we have seen changes there.
“Kinda doesn’t matter at this point…what caused it,” Palin added. Watch it:
Palin’s position is a slight change from her previous full-fledged denial of man-made global warming. In a recently released interview with Newsmax, Palin said, “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location.” She added, “I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.” In Dec. 2007, Palin reportedly said, “I’m not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity.”
It does, however, “matter” whether Palin acknowledges the full contribution of humans to climate change. Palin is a “champion” for climate-unfriendly policies such as increased use of oil and coal, which will exacerbate the contributions of humans to the warming planet.
Update:
Climate Progress observes: “It kind of does matter whether man’s activities are to blame or not, because, you know, if we’re not the cause then we’re, kind of, not the solution either.”