Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (D) slammed a climate change joke made by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) during a House Transportation & Infrastructure Hearing on Wednesday. Buttigieg’s comments followed a White House announcement of the newly-created American Climate Corps, a new workforce that will work to address climate change throughout the nation.
During the hearing, Buttigieg told LaMalfa, “What I can tell you is climate change is real, and we’ve got to do something about it.”
Related:
LaMalfa responded, “Yeah, this one is called autumn, sir.”
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Confused, Buttigieg asked, “I’m sorry?”
LaMalfa repeated, “Yes, this one is called autumn right now, so yeah.”
Buttigieg said, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t make out what you said.”
LaMalfa said a third time, “This climate change right now is called autumn, yes.”
Buttigieg responded, “Yeah, that’s the seasons changing which respectively is not the same as the climate changing.”
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather and atmospheric conditions, detected by “a wide array of measurements and observations over decades or hundreds of years” which “show a long-term warming trend caused by humans,” according to a fact-check by USA Today.
Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels has contributed to global warming and “sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves,” NASA says. It has also contributed to extreme weather events, drought, widespread wildfires, and other catastrophes.
However, conservative climate change denialists have long said that climate change is the same as seasonal change. Some have pointed to the existence of winter, cold weather, and snow as “proof” that climate change isn’t real and isn’t making the global climate warmer.
On Wednesday, the administration of President Joe Biden announced the creation of the American Climate Corps, a jobs training program that could employ 20,000 people to work on land restoration, clean energy development, community natural disaster resilience, and other efforts to address climate change.
Most of the program’s positions won’t require previous experience and all will pay participants and allow them a pathway into a civil service career. Additionally, the Biden administration has made millions in investments into clean energy development, mass transit, electric vehicles, and other initiatives to reduce fossil fuel use.
