At a campaign event today in Etna, Ohio, Gov. Romney was asked, “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?” Romney responded, “I never imagined such a thing is funny,” despite using rising sea levels as a punchline in his speech to the Republican National Convention.
Woman: “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?”
Romney: “I never imagined such a thing is funny.”
Man: “Is climate change still a joke to you?”
Romney: “As a matter of fact, if you’d like to — I know you’re filming — if you’d like to see my view on global warming, I wrote a book, and there’s a chapter on global warming and you’ll see what I think we can do to deal with it.”
Man: “What are you going to do to address global warming?”
This confrontation marks the fifth time in two days that Romney has been questioned about climate change. On Thursday, a protester interrupted Romney during a speech in Virginia Beach, shouting “Romney! What about climate? That’s what caused this monster storm! Climate change!” Also yesterday, student activists asked Romney about his plan to address climate change at three different campaign stops, in Roanoke, Doswell, and Virginia Beach, VA. Romney dodged the question each time, referring the voters to his book.
Despite Governor Romney and President Obama’s reluctance to address climate change during the presidential campaign, Hurricane Sandy and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s endorsement of President Obama has renewed attention to the impacts of climate change on the United States, and the candidates’ plans to address the crisis.
In addition to a warming atmosphere and oceans that are loading storms with more energy and rainfall, global warming is raising sea levels and increasing the damage from storm surge and coastal flooding. A US Geological Survey report found that sea levels are rising three to four times faster on the Atlantic Coast than globally, putting several major US cities at greater risk.
