By John A. Tures
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) quieted another series of dire warnings about climate change, it’s worth noting how Republicans and Democrats really feel about the subject, how businesses think about it and what’s driving their assessment. Moreover, there’s a solution that even conservatives will appreciate.
The recent controversy occurred when the USDA was accused of burying another series of concerns about how climate change will hurt farmers. Additionally, there were orders to trim all science advisory boards and moves to cut money for agricultural research which show policymakers are dismissing scientific evidence, to the country’s peril.
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“The poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago finds 74 percent of Americans say extreme weather in the past five years—hurricanes, droughts, floods and heat waves—has influenced their opinions about climate change. That includes half of Americans who say these recent events have influenced their thinking a great deal or a lot. About as many, 71 percent, said the weather they experience daily in their own areas has influenced their thinking about climate change science.”