9 Quotes From Republican Politicians Next to Their State's Damning Heat Graphs

9 Quotes From Republican Politicians Next to Their State's Damning Heat Graphs

Some charts of how fast we're warming with totally unrelated quotes.

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Happy #ShowYourStripes Day! For the past few years, meteorologists and climatologists have taken a day in June to show dramatic graphics on TV green screens, ties, masks, blankets, sweaters, and even a Tesla that illustrate how quickly the climate is changing.

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First developed by climate scientist Ed Hawkins, these graphics—dubbed warming stripesput the temperature changes wrought by the climate crisis in a stark light. In the original image, each stripe represented a year in the life of the global average temperature. Since then, warming stripes graphics have proliferated to show how much countries, states, and even local cities have heated up.

In honor of this auspicious day, we thought we’d share a few alarming stripe graphics from U.S. states with some totally unrelated quotes from deniers politicians in Congress to give them the opportunity to show their stripes, in a manner of speaking.

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Texas

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Image: Climate Central

“The Green New Deal will destroy the American energy industry as we know it.” -Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, April 20, 2021

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Alaska

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Image: Climate Central

“I’m one of the skeptics that man has anything to do with climate change. It’s a fear tactic utilized by politicians. I’ve got about 72 top-notch scientists who say it’s all a myth, a political ploy to frighten people to do things that are not really necessary.” -Republican Rep. Don Young, January 23, 2018

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Arizona

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Image: Climate Central

“Unfortunately you haven’t been taught about photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is where plants take carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. That’s a problem in today’s world. We haven’t taught kids exactly what’s going on in America and in science. ... As the son of a geologist, our climate has always changed, and if you don’t doubt me, dig up some fossils. It will tell you an awful lot about how our climate has changed.” -Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, Feb. 27, 2019 in response to a young voter’s question about what he planned to do about climate change.

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Utah

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Image: Climate Central

“The solution to climate change is not this un-serious resolution that we’re considering this week in the Senate, but rather the serious business of human flourishing. The solution to so many of our problems, at all times and in all places, is to fall in love, get married, and have some kids.” -Republican Sen. Mike Lee, March 26, 2019 in response to the Green New Deal legislation.

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Florida

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Image: Climate Central

“Climate change has been going on for a long time and not all of it is manmade.” -Republican Rep. John Rutherford, June 2, 2017 in response to former President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

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California

California

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Image: Climate Central

“When I was a kid, we were having global cooling, and we were going to go into another Ice Age, and now we’ve switched it to now the Earth is warming.” -Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, Sept. 5, 2018

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Michigan

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Image: Climate Central

“I believe there’s climate change. I believe there’s been climate change since the beginning of time. Do I think man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No. Why do I believe that? Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.” - Republican Rep. Tim Walberg, May 26, 2017

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Colorado

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Photo: Climate Central

“Biden’s plan to banish fossil fuels is a greater existential threat than climate change.” - Republican Rep. Ken Buck, Feb. 15, 2021, weighing in on the Texas blackouts. 

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Oklahoma

Oklahoma

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Image: Climate Central

“You know what this is? It’s a snowball. It’s just from outside here. So it’s very, very cold out, very unseasonable.” - Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, February 26, 2015 when he literally threw a snowball in Congress to “demonstrate” climate change was a hoax.

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Georgia

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Image: Climate Central

“I’m posting this in speculation because there are too many coincidences to ignore. ...

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If they are beaming the suns [sic] energy back to Earth, I’m sure they wouldn’t ever miss a transmitter receiving station right??!! I mean mistakes are never made when anything new is invented. What would that look like anyway? A laser beam or light beam coming down to Earth I guess. Could that cause a fire? Hmmm, I don’t know. I hope not! That wouldn’t look so good for PG&E, Rothschild Inc, Solaren or Jerry Brown who sure does seem fond of PG&E.” - Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nov. 17 2018, in a Facebook post theorizing that California’s wildfires were caused by space lasers.

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