April 4, 2018 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
04:09
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| Of all the polarizing issues in politics today, and yes, there are many, | ||
| the climate change debate is right at the top of the list. | ||
| Climate change seems to be one of the you're either with us or you're against us topics, usually debated by people immediately taking a partisan stance rather than a well thought out position. | ||
| This past year I actually lost a good friend who told me that she could no longer be associated with people who even debate climate change, and I'm someone who's had such conversations on this very show. | ||
| I think the most hate I ever got for a Rubin Report episode was when I had Alex Epstein, author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, in for a sit down. | ||
| Alex's argument isn't against man-made climate change specifically, instead he's more focused on how to increase human prosperity with what we have now. | ||
| Essentially, his argument is although climate change could be real, fossil fuels still have many net benefits for our society. | ||
| After endless tweets, emails and messages from angry people, Alex did a follow up video on YouTube himself where he answered around 100 viewer questions. | ||
| Engaging with people who have different views is exactly what the battle of ideas is all about. | ||
| On the flip side of the debate, I've also sat down with Michael Mann, a climatologist and the author of the famous The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, who's a thought leader in the climate change debate. | ||
| I've discussed climate change to some degree or another with believers in man-made climate change like Sam Harris, Michael Shermer, and Richard Dawkins, as well as some with more skeptical views such as Andrew Klavan, Steven Crowder, and Ben Shapiro. | ||
| And for the record, not one of these guests believe the exact same thing as anyone else I just mentioned right there. | ||
| I find climate change to be a really interesting discussion because it often shows how one's thinking works in other areas as well. | ||
| Generally speaking, Democrats, or those on the left, see climate change as man made and believe that governmental action is the best, or in some cases the only way to reverse its negative effects. | ||
| Republicans, or those on the right, generally believe that something is happening to the environment, though there is some debate as to whether it's man made, but regardless believe that the private sector is better left to deal with these issues. | ||
| Of course there are outliers on each side, such as my former guest, California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Schellenberger, who wants the private sector to be more involved in solving climate issues. | ||
| And at the same time, there are also Republicans and people on the right who deny man made climate change at all. | ||
| The science debate on climate change is an interesting one, and one in which I'm happy to have. | ||
| What interests me more, though, is how the government should or should not be part of the solution to whatever the problem may be. | ||
| You know my feelings on this, that the government is rarely the solution to anything. | ||
| Actually, at this point I think the government is usually the problem in the first place, and I'd always rather exhaust private options before turning to the government, especially the federal government. | ||
| Ironically, this should be the position of the people who hate Trump. | ||
| Why would you want to keep giving the government more power when you hate the guy in charge? | ||
| But at the end of the day, it's not governmental power that they have a problem with. | ||
| It's that they only have a problem with governmental power when it's not their guy in charge. | ||
| Fortunately, there does seem to be a younger generation that is tackling issues like climate change and the environment in a totally new way. | ||
| It seems to be based not only in scientific facts, but also in an understanding of how a limited government should work. | ||
| My guest this week is Benji Backer, president of the American Conservation Coalition. | ||
| The group is dedicated to finding new ways to look at old problems. | ||
| As its mantra states, they are committed to efficient, effective, conservative environmentalism. | ||
| As for me, I'm a believer in the science behind climate change, and the funny thing about science is that it doesn't care whether you believe in it or not. | ||
| For me, the real debate around climate change is how to go about finding solutions without giving more power and more money to the government. | ||
| Whether you believe in climate science or not, whether you want more government regulation or less, or whether you believe the private sector can find a solution or not, we're all stuck on this little rock together. |
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