Jim Demint scoffs at climate change while erosion eats away at South Carolina's beaches and tourism industry

In response to last winters record snowfalls in Washington, DC Senator Jim Demint tweeted:

It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries "uncle"

In June 2010 Jim Demint wrote on his blog:

Remember what Obama said the night he secured the Democratic presidential nomination: “This [is] the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” Only a liberal would believe that tinkering with the levers of government could ever accomplish such planetary change.

Senator Demint refuses to acknowledge that climate change caused by human activity is a direct threat to the environment even when unusually rapid patterns of erosion damage South Carolina's precious beaches. Scientists believe the threat to the beaches is due to hurricanes which have increased in severity in recent years due to global warming and to rising ocean tides.



Unusually vicious hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina that destroyed New Orleans are more likely to occur due to man made climate change. Yet it seems that Sen. Jim Demint would rather see South Carolina vulnerable to this kind of destruction than do anything about it.

Senator Demint scoffs at scientific evidence even when it damages his home state. The State of South Carolina and the federal government will now have to invest millions to build up (renourish) South Carolina shorelines, an essential component of the tourism industry which has been recognized as one of the only bright spots on the State's economy. And the question that looms large: will the funds be there? The loss of critical federal stimulus money has meant South Carolina has had to cut back on boosting tourism in the State. Read about it in the Daily Me.

Because chronic poverty and unemployment plague the State, the importance of tourism to South Carolina can't be overemphasized.Currently tourism (2006 figures) contributes $10.9 billion a year to Gross State Product and employs approximately 216,000 people." Source: http://www.scprt.com/files/Marketing%20Partners/tourism%20action%20plan.pdf

Learn more about how erosion threatens the South Carolina shore from Treehugger.com: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/12/erosion-eating-up-south-caroina-beaches.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+treehugger

Read about a recent study that proves sea surface temperatures are a direct cause of increased hurricane activity and severity in the Atlantic Ocean. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130130647.htm