Fmr GOP Rep Bob Inglis Gets JFK Profile In Courage Award For Recognizing Reality
If the ability to acknowledge the validity of climate science is "courage", we're in deeper shit than I'd thought.
Bob Inglis’ efforts as a Republican pursuing meaningful action on climate change have always been noteworthy, but now they’re award worthy.
On Monday, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced that the former U.S. Congressman for South Carolina had been named the 2015 recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for political courage. A courage he demonstrated “when he reversed his previous position on climate change, knowing that by acknowledging the scientific reality of atmospheric warming and calling on the United States to meaningfully address the issue, he was jeopardizing his political career,” according to the release.
After representing the 4th Congressional District of South Carolina from 1993-98 and again from 2005-2010, Inglis lost his re-election bid in part due to this decision. Since then, instead of admitting defeat, he has gone on to work on the issue at the grassroots level, founding the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, which is devoted to conservative and free-enterprise solutions to energy and climate challenges. Housed at George Mason University in Virgina, it includes the community-driven group republicEn.
In a 2013 interview with Yale Environment 360, Inglis said the goal of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative is to “see a true cost competition between all fuels, and the result of that, we believe, is that free enterprise will solve our energy and climate challenge.”
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/13/3646374/republican-wins-award-for-believing-in-climate-change/
= new reply since forum marked as read
> "... knowing that by acknowledging the scientific reality of atmospheric warming and calling on
> the United States to meaningfully address the issue, he was jeopardizing his political career”
Full marks to Inglis for being a) sensible enough to accept proven science, b) honest enough to
recognise he was initially wrong, and c) possessing the integrity to battle on even after losing
his election (in part) due to a & b.
Even so, this is a pretty damning indictment of the situation ...