Editorial: Rubio, Bush should act on climate

Last year was the hottest by far, scientists have just reported — a finding met by the sound of crickets in the Republican presidential field. It's one thing for these candidates to play to the conservative base. But two contenders, Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, live in South Florida and should know firsthand about the threats a warming planet poses to their area and state. It's not too much to ask that both parties — and certainly the next occupant of the White House — be willing to engage in a serious discussion about climate change.

Doing nothing and denying reality are not responsible options. In fact, serious politicians must weigh the consequences of guessing wrong — of assuming that climate change shall pass or at least be manageable with modest interventions. The serious science says otherwise, and those who pooh-pooh it as so much alarmist talk will be on the wrong side of history.

Two U.S. agencies — NASA, the nation's space program, and NOAA, the weather service — reported separately this month that 2015 was the warmest year in their recorded histories dating to 1880. The news mirrored findings by Japanese and British scientists, who said 2015 was the warmest on record dating to 1850. The announcement came as memories of an acutely warm December were still fresh across the nation, with a third or more of the country reporting record highs and deadly flooding from pummeling rains.

Though the East Coast is still digging out from this past weekend's snowstorm, the longer-term picture is clear. In the contiguous United States, last year was the second warmest on record, and the wettest on record. Eight of the world's 10 deadliest heat waves have occurred since 1997. And while it will take time to confirm, the back-to-back heat in the past two years could have put the world back on track to a period of rapid warming.

But there has been no sense of urgency in the Republican race to address this phenomenon. As the Miami Herald reported this month, Rubio and Bush are at ground zero in the warming debate, yet neither has called for a robust response to deal with the rising threats. Though Rubio and Bush acknowledge climate science, they downplay man-made influences and dismiss the risks to the nation's security and public health as overblown.

This position might play well with Iowa Republicans, but it doesn't square with the reality that residents face in the neighborhoods that Rubio and Bush call home. Seawater already bubbles through the streets in Miami Beach and along Biscayne Boulevard at high tide. In Miami, as elsewhere in Florida, local officials are looking at ways to protect property, control flooding and safeguard public drinking water supplies as rising seas and other warming-related impacts pose immediate risks.

Conservative voters in the Republican primaries may not be the most receptive audiences, but concern for global warming cuts across party lines. A Pew Research Survey in November, in advance of the global climate summit in Paris, found that 69 percent of Americans surveyed supported government actions to curb emissions. That included half of all Republicans polled. And 55 percent of Republicans said climate change will require people to change their lifestyles. A Gallup poll of self-identified moderate Republicans last year found that two-thirds believed the effects of global warming would be felt in their lifetimes.

This is a challenge for the nation, and both parties need to be at the table. That's where the Florida candidates can make a difference, drawing attention to the impacts on this coastal state and to the work that cities and counties are already undertaking. Rubio and Bush are uniquely suited to make their party more responsive to climate issues and to spare the party from conceding the issue to Democrats. But they need to start acknowledging mankind's own contributions and the urgent need to act.