Our Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. On Sept 20, 2023, this committee held a meeting in which Sec. of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was in attendance. Pete was discussing highspeed rail transportation and electric vehicles as ways to reduce carbon dioxide omissions.
LaMalfa spent his committee speaking time lambasting California’s Central Valley high speed rail project for lack of progress and cost overruns, and the lack of electric vehicle charging stations in the more rural portions of his district.
While Pete Buttigieg was discussing climate change, LaMalfa blurted out “This climate change right now is called autumn.” This comment startled Pete and caused him to pause in his presentation. Pete recovered and responded to LaMalfa’s comment saying “That’s the seasons changing, which respectively, is not the same thing as the climate changing.” You can view this interaction between Buttigieg and LaMalfa on YouTube.
Was LaMalfa trying to be funny, letting the world know he is a climate change denier, or showing us his stupidity?
I guess LaMalfa doesn’t remember learning about the weather changing during the earth’s four seasons in elementary school.
LaMalfa’s statement to Pete Buttigieg tells me that he doesn’t know that Earth’s tilt on its axis and its revolution around the sun cause our four seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter). The Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees on average and as the Earth rotates and revolves around the sun, the angle at which sunlight hits the Earth’s surface changes, causing different seasons. When the North Pole tilts towards the sun, it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and vice versa.
Between the 2015 Paris Agreement and 2019, the top 5 oil corporations have spent a combined $1 B dollars on misleading climate-related B.S. and political lobbying. LaMalfa’s political campaign funds have received some of this money. Because of LaMalfa and others like him, we are moving, with stupidity, into the unknown.
We are now experiencing carbon dioxide levels, the primary greenhouse gas, that the earth experienced three to five million years ago. At that time, average temperatures were 3.6 – 5.4°F warmer and sea levels were 30-65 feet higher than now. If we do not change our current practices, we will be leaving a very different and dangerous world to our children and grand-children. Doug LaMalfa really doesn’t care about the future’s disruptive world that our grand-children and great grandchildren will be living in
The oil company Exon has known about climate change’s impacts since the 1970s, and found that pro-climate change actions would impact their bottom line. As a result, they joined an industry-wide attack on the truth, creating a false narrative that has prevented positive action for decades.
If we pay attention to what scientists are telling us, instead of the fossil fuel industry’s deceptions, the message is clear. Humans are causing the rapid onset of climate change, which is already bringing costly economic, environmental, social and human impacts throughout the world. The best way to minimize these impacts is by minimizing fossil fuels consumption and accelerating an equitable transition towards clean energy sources.
So, coming back to the original question: Is Doug LaMalfa stupid or just playing politics that best meets his needs? I believe that it’s both.
If he was not stupid, he would weigh the pros and cons of climate change and vote for changes that would have positive effects on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Looking at his lifetime environmental voting record, LaMalfa voted anti-environment 97% of the time (lcv.org).
What does this say about the 13,155 voters of Siskiyou County that voted for LaMalfa in 2020, and the 7,944 voters in March 5, 2024? These voters will need to tell their grandchildren and great grandchildren that they chose to vote for a climate change denier and didn’t care about the future detrimental weather and environmental changes they would be living under.
Climate change is and will significantly negatively affect local farmers ability to grow crops in Siskiyou County. This will be LaMalfa’s legacy.
Tom Laurent
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Good job Doug. Thank you for standing up.
Proud of you
Tom… Perhaps you’d like to share your passion for writing…along with your “climate change” data with the CCP. I believe they need to be reminded of their “promises” to reduce China’s SKY HIGH numbers…
Big Oil, Corporations, and the like are responsible for the environmental damaged they have caused. When spills and damages occur, they don’t pay to have it cleaned up and instead have good ol’ tax payers foot the bill (in Russian fashion I guess).
Conservatives/Republicans give a blank check for accountability for these monsters while granting the more deregulation policies.
I can’t say that I am surprised, and let alone how someone who is supposed to be responsible for their community is ignorant to basic 3rd grade level science: Summer/Winter Solstices. This LaMalfa is just another case of “F you I have mine” and he should be removed from office!
To Doug: When an expert is trying to address concerns, you listen or your tongue will keep you deaf!
I think part of the problem today is the perception I have is that confidence in our institutions is the lowest I’ve seen in my lifetime. Many people just don’t trust what they are hearing from the main stream media and politicians, including on the issue of climate change.