Bob Inglis

Just as millions in Washington and points north were bracing for a potentially record-breaking snowstorm, government scientists announced that 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history — and the fourth time in 11 years the earth’s temperature has set record highs.

It doesn’t take a climatologist to see a worrisome trend.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calculated the 2015 global temperature at 58.62 degrees — an alarming 1.62 degrees above the 20th century average. A temperature shift of that magnitude will determine whether you get rain, sleet or snow; whether that puddle ahead is water or black ice. It would send you to bed with fever and chills. And it means something serious for this glorious remnant of Eden.

Scientists have clearly sounded the alarm, but not everyone is heeding their warnings. We have every reason to take them at their near-unanimous word, and that should include our conservative friends on the campaign trail in Iowa, New Hampshire and my home state of South Carolina. Hopefully, higher temperatures will thaw frozen political positions, because it may well take a conservative president to elevate this problem and work out a free-enterprise solution.

Do scientists have it all figured out? Certainly not. Science can always be fine-tuned, and our understanding will improve as our knowledge deepens. Climate scientists are giving us their best estimates using the tools available to model an enormously complex global system. The numbers from NASA and NOAA should tell us that it’s time to act on what we know. We can’t wait until we have mythically perfect information.

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Too many conservative politicians and pundit-entertainers tell us what we want to hear: We have problems, but climate change isn’t one of them. With the data now clearly overtaking the skeptics, the line from some leaders has softened to “I’m not a scientist.” Well, then, let’s listen to the actual scientists.

Wherever we fall on the political spectrum, we share a fundamental set of interests with our fellow travelers. We all want to live comfortably in safe communities where we hold steady jobs that allow us to support our families. Americans from both parties hope to leave the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.

In order to do that, we need to work together to solve climate change. And we need leaders who lead and candidates who practice what they preach regarding market-based solutions. At republicEn.org we believe that climate change is a problem that can be solved by the simple and sound principle of accountability. Eliminate all subsidies for all fuels (including oil, gas, solar, wind and the ethanol so important in Iowa), attach costs to all fuels to make energy pricing transparent and inclusive, and free enterprise will deliver innovation.

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We’re climate realists and energy optimists. We’re building a community of folks who who celebrate the science. If we get big enough, we can persuade conservatives in Congress — and on the campaign trail — to debate solutions and stop shrinking in science denial.

The news this weekend will be about a snowstorm. Amid all the jokes from politicians and political entertainers, the scientists will tell us that increased moisture in the air is consistent with the warming their instruments are recording around the world, and that means heavy snows and rainfalls in our future. They may not be so good at public relations, but the scientists are good at what they do. We should listen to them.

Republican Bob Inglis is a former South Carolina congressman who directs republicEn.org. He lost his House seat in 2010 in part because of his views on climate change.

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