Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz clashed with a group of climate activists who interrupted his remarks at a Thursday night event.
Protesters sat themselves on the stage next to Cruz and began chanting slogans, ostensibly to bring attention to the issue of climate change and protest against Cruz’s positions on energy, during Cruz’s remarks at a Thursday evening event hosted by a conservative organization in Washington, D.C. Cruz did not back down, instead using the microphone to question the activists about their knowledge of basic climate and energy facts, grainy footage of the incident posted to social media shows.
“Hold on, hold on, which country is the biggest climate polluter on planet Earth?” Cruz asked the protesters. “You have no idea. You’re a protester and you’re utterly ignorant about what you’re protesting about. What’s the answer?”
WATCH:
Climate protesters disrupted Sen. Cruz’s speech tonight. He flipped the script and put them on the spot. “Which country is the biggest climate polluter on Planet Earth? You have no idea!”
The obvious well-known answer is Communist China. They wouldn’t say or they don’t know.… pic.twitter.com/PGrLPkrplO
— Darin Miller (@DarinBMiller) July 12, 2024
“OK, so you have none,” Cruz said a few seconds later. “He’s literally protesting about climate, and he can’t tell you who the biggest polluter on planet Earth is. And he won’t.”
One of the activists barked back at Cruz with a response that is mostly inaudible in the footage.
“What country is the largest polluter on planet Earth today?” Cruz said, before one of the protesters said it is the U.S.
“OK, so this young lady has no clue, she said ‘the United States of America,” Cruz said. “She is protesting, and she has literally no idea. By the way, the answer is Communist China. Which country leads the world in reduction of carbon emissions? Are you gonna know the answer to that? I’ll give you a hint, it was the wrong answer you gave before: it’s the United States of America.”
The crowd then began to applaud Cruz.
“Do you know why?” Cruz continued. “The reason is because of the thing you’re protesting against: fossil fuels. No, no, you’re so ignorant, you don’t know. So if you’re going to protest, confront some facts.”
China is by far the world’s leading carbon polluter, according to The Carbon Brief, and the country permitted an average of two new coal plants per week in 2022, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The U.S., meanwhile, reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by about 17.5% between 2005 and 2022, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data. Many energy sector experts have credited the natural gas boom of the late 2000s as the primary driver of this reduction, as a boom in affordable, cleaner gas allowed the country to reduce its reliance on coal.
Between 2005 and 2022, U.S. energy production from natural gas approximately doubled while coal use decreased, and U.S. natural gas consumption increased by about 46% over the same time period, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
Cruz “will not be intimidated by climate protesters who ignore basic realities,” a spokesperson for the senator told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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