Heartland’s 15th International Conference on Climate Change
Heartland’s 15th International Conference on Climate Change
By Nancy Thorner
Heartland’s 15th International Conference on Climate Change features U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO)
The Heartland Institute, located in Arlington Heights, IL, held its 15th International Conference on Climate Change February 23–25, 2023 in Orlando, Florida. The theme of the conference: The True Crisis: Climate Change or Climate Policy?
James Taylor is president of the Heartland Institute and was the host of the conference, while Jim Lakely is vice president and director of communications at The Heartland Institute.
Conference cosponsors were Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Science and Environmental Policy Project, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cornwall Alliance For the Stewardship of Creation, and Reality News.
50 plus speakers spoke during the 3-day event. Well received were two of the speakers who appeared at the Keynote lunch on Saturday, February 25, 2023: U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
Senator Johnson was elected to the Senate in 2011 and reelected in 2016 and 2022 by Wisconsin voters. Johnson is the ranking member for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He also serves on the Budget and Finance Committees.
Rep. Lauren Boebert is serving her second term in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. She is on the Natural Resources and Budget Committees, is co-chair of the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, and after only a few months, was elected to the executive board as the Communications Chair of the House Freedom Caucus.
Contents
Remarks by Senator Ron Johnson
Wisconsinite Cameron Sholty introduced Senator Ron Johnson as “a shining white hot light on the misinformation of the Left.”
Climate change prospective
In provided his prospective on climate change, Senator Johnson stated: "This isn't about climate or saving the planet, it is about the Left utilizing climate change to create fear to control our lives."
According to Johnson: "I'm not a climate change denier, I'm just not a climate change alarmist. Common sense tells us that there is not much we can do about climate which is always changing. What we ought to do is adapt to it. Perhaps the last thing we should do is spend money on something we can't do anything about."
In requesting those in attendance to remember past predictions about global cooling and global warming, Senator Johnson shared three data points. One showed how glaciers retreated from his state thousands of years ago before there were any fossil fuels emissions.
Said Johnson: "It's fine if we are just talking about two groups wirh one group worried about climate change and the other group saying we will adapt, but it's way more than that. The group alarmed by climate change has a lot of power and is using that power to implement dangerous policies."
"Because of climate alarmists we are going the way of Venezuela whose citizens voted themselves into poverty.”
About the pandemic
As for the pandemic, Johnson cited that over a million Americans died and 6 million people globally. "The shutdowns didn't work and likewise the masks, but the worst offense was how early treatments for Covid were sabotaged. Instead, it was all about flattening the curve, yet no one has been held responsible for all the deaths."
Having met with many doctors and researchers who testified in front of his Senate committees back in Oct./Nov. of 2020—many of whom were vilified and worse—Johnson tried to warm government officials about the vaccine and how the shot just didn't stay in the arm of the receiver.
On freedom
What concerns Senator Johnson is how legislators are making decisions to take away people's freedom and that Americans are willing to give up their freedoms for the small sense of security.
This loss of freedom, as perceived by Johnson, was what prompted him to initially run for office.
Johnson cautioned that all is now coming to fruition since the Left took over our university system in 1960. "Is it any wonder, said Johnson, "that one half of Americans believe that climate change is authentic and that immediate action must be taken to save the planet."
As Johnson warned in conclusion: "We must all be engaged in the fight for freedom. It is not a fight to be fought somewhere else, but it's over here in the U.S. If involved, we should become even more involved.”
Although there is a lot to fix, Johnson believes much depends on the American people learning the truth.
Having won his third term, Senator Johnson aims to speak the truth so more Americans are able to discern the truth.
Remarks by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert
Heartland's president James Taylor introduced Rep. Lauren Boebert. Taylor, in citing how he can always count on Rep. Boebert as a legislator, added that Boebert risked her status time and again for standing up against government, but that she never faltered in how she viewed freedom and the Constitution.
Initially expressed by Lauren Boebert was that she loved freedom because "Jesus was sent to set us free."
Rep. Boebert then spoke about our Founding Fathers, how they celebrated their freedom as if it already belonged to them, even before they went into battle. They swore to each other their sacred honor and their lives and then went out to achieve the things they believed in. For as Boebert said, "This is why we are here because we have that spirit of freedom inside of us, even though there are people who want to take that away."
118th U.S. Congress
Hearing from her constituents that Congress was broken, Rep. Boebert went into detail about the concessions that were made and also about the House speaker's battle at the beginning of the 118th Congress.
Despite all that happened, Rep. Boebert believes that the Republican Party emerged united and strong and that Speaker McCarthy was empowered to do a fantastic job with the likelihood of becoming an amazing speaker.
About government
Said Rep. Boebert: “Our federal government has been weaponized against us, but we now have a leg up with the gavel in the House for oversight, even if overgrown government agencies don't welcome Congressional oversight.”
Although there is much work ahead for the U.S. House, Rep. Boebert believes much will be exposed in the next two years. What Boebert wants is true accountability. She wants people to pay for what they have done to American citizens.
In mentioning The Inflation Reduction Act, Rep. Boebert pegged the bill as basically the Green New Deal. Out of a $1.2 trillion bill, only 9% went to anything related to infrastructure.
Rep. Boebert's bill
Mentioned by Rep. Boebert was her own recent House bill, The American Energy Act, which aims to cut red tape to unleash American energy, streamline the energy permitting process, reduce gas prices, and eliminate frivolous lawsuits threatening American energy independence.
As for the American the Beautiful call to action that Biden issued to conserve, connect, and restore 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030, and even more by 2050 for the sake of our economy, our health, and our well-being, Rep. Lauren called the name good sounding but not what it directed to happen.
Rep. Boebert also spoke of a rule that House Republicans have introduced in Congress, the Holman rule, which “allows amendments to appropriations legislation that would reduce the salary of or fire specific federal employees, or cut a specific program."
In closing
“We must be bold", said Boebert. "We have the right policies, but we have to be better messengers.”
Rep. Boebert is committed to doing just that and hoped that those present would commit to doing the same. She doesn't want her children to live in a Socialist nation.
Boebart believe there is hope for this nation, that America is resilient and will emerge stronger for having gone through a rough time in her history.
As Rep Boebert said: "The Left may look united, but it's just because they aren't permitted to have diverse opinions."
