Barack Obama Trolled Rick Scott on His Climate Change Denial

Barack Obama is an obvious reader of New Times. Because he apparently took our Earth Day advice and openly called out Gov. Rick Scott on the ridiculous ban on the term “climate change” from all Department of Environmental Protection reports, emails, and memos.

“Climate change can’t be denied, edited out, or omitted from the conversation,” Obama said in his speech at the Everglades on Wednesday. “Simply refusing to say the words ‘climate change’ doesn’t mean that climate change isn’t happening.”

Metal folding chair to the face!

As big of a troll job as that was, it actually wasn’t the first time Obama took a swipe at Scott’s climate denial stance in a public setting. During the president’s last State of the Union address, Obama went after Scott’s previously ridiculous go-to whenever he’s been asked about climate change.

Before allegedly ordering his underlings to pretend the term “climate change” didn’t exist, Scott would simply answer “I’m no scientist” to any reporter who asked him about how climate change is harming the state. In the Union Address in January, Obama went for the bald-headed jugular, saying, “I've heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they're not scientists, that we don't have enough information to act. Well, I'm not a scientist either," Obama said. "But... I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA and NOAA and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate.”

Now, on Wednesday, as he toured the Everglades with Bill Nye the Science Guy, Obama took trolling out the governor up a notch, all while calling for action by having the state cut carbon emissions by 28 percent by 2025, among other things, saying that “this is not some impossible problem we can’t solve.”

“In places like this,” Obama said while speaking from a podium at the River of Grass. “Folks don’t have time, we don’t have time, you do not have time to deny the effects of climate change. Folks are already dealing with it. And nowhere will it have a bigger impact than here in South Florida.”


Obama also reminded the crowd that 2014 was the warmest year on record, meaning climate change can no longer be denied, and action to turn things around no longer delayed.

The president announced that the White House would be releasing a report that shows how every dollar invested in the national park service generates $10 for the economy. Obama also noted that $2.2 billion has been invested on Everglades restoration efforts, and that he proposed another $240 million this year. Obama added that he’s calling on Congress to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.