Sarah Palin vows to fight global warming… by drilling for oil

onApr 15, 2009 @ 17:28 PDT

There’s political spin and then there’s Sarah Palin.

After denying the very existence of climate change through most the 2008 campaign Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin is now on the record as saying that:

“Simply waiting for low-carbon-emitting renewable capacity to be large enough will mean that it will be too late to meet the mitigation goals for reducing [carbon dioxide] that will be required under most credible climate-change models.”

Brian Merchant has the full story on Treehugger and puts it best:

“…perhaps I’m being cynical here, but it does seem like a rather opportune time to start supporting climate change efforts—that is, when your state stands to reap billions of dollars in revenue. Never mind that drilling in that region could potentially be environmentally catastrophic, and that natural gas is a far-from-ideal short term remedy at best. Until we hear more on how Ms. Wasilla plans on making that transition to renewable energy in her state, and how she’ll support green jobs, it’s probably best to remain skeptical of Palin’s intentions to combat global warming.”

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.