From Tuesday night's Florida governor debate:
[CNN's JAKE] TAPPER: Governor Scott, I want to move on to one other job, that scientists in the state are very concerned about—people who live near the beach are very concerned about climate change. Whenever you're asked about whether or not climate change is caused by men in part or in whole, you say you're not a scientist.
But you are a governor. Doctors advise you on Ebola. Economists advise you on the economy. Why are you so reluctant to believe the overwhelming majority of scientists who say that man contributes to climate change?
[SCOTT]: So, what I mean is the solutions. So, the—so, here’s what we've done. I’m going to tell you what we’ve done.
We have spent $350 million to deal with sea level rise down in the Keys. We spent—or down in the Miami Area. We spent hundreds of millions dollars to deal with coral reefs. We did an historic settlement with the federal government over the Everglades. We’ve done—we put historic money into our springs. [...] [Emphasis supplied]
Rick Scott does not say he believes in human-caused climate change. And as a result, he does not discuss how to address the CAUSES of climate change. Instead he talks about dealing with the consequences. This is the proverbial finger in the dike approach to dealing with the problem and it simply will not work. The causes of climate change must be addressed, not just the consequences.
By contrast, Charlie Crist gets it:
TAPPER: Governor Crist?
CRIST: Well, I believe in climate change. I believe in global warming, and I think that man is a significant part in that.
We did have conferences but I signed executive orders, Rick, the nature of which you would never sign, to cut emissions.
Now, why do I believe it’s important to do that? Because I believe in renewable energy, I believe in clean energy, like solar, wind. These are the kind of things that I think are important, instead of continuing to be addicted to gasoline at the pump. [...] [Emphasis supplied]
Charlie Crist believes in manmade climate change and believes we should address the causes of it, like carbon emissions, not just the consequences.