Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, appeared on MSNBC not too long ago and challenged Andrea Mitchell’s assertion that climate change is to blame for the deaths of two million people over the last half-century.
According to Ramaswamy’s argument, the number of fatalities that may be attributed to climate change has decreased by 98% thanks to technological advancements fuelled by fossil fuels. In addition to this, he challenged Mitchell’s anecdotal evidence, which said that the fact that some Floridians have stated they have never seen a storm as terrible as storm Idalia is proof that climate change poses a significant risk since it shows that Floridians have never witnessed a hurricane of this magnitude before.
Mitchell started the discussion by bringing up Ramaswamy’s recent statement in the Republican debate that he referred to climate change as a “hoax.” He said that the poor policies about climate change are responsible for the deaths of more people than real climate change itself. According to one organization of the United Nations, however, severe weather events exacerbated by climate change were the direct cause of mortality for 2 million people between 1970 and 2021.
In response, Ramaswamy argued that using fossil fuels was responsible for the survival of many people in the face of climate-related natural catastrophes. He presented convincing data that during the last century, the number of people who have lost their lives due to natural disasters has dropped by 98 percent. Access to more plentiful fossil fuels is the correct action to take to prevent the fatalities that have been linked to temperature.
As an illustration of the unavoidable realities of climate change, Mitchell utilized Floridians’ anecdotal evidence about Hurricane Idalia. Ramaswamy claimed that a shoe must fit both feet to be considered appropriate. He warned Mitchell about using anecdotal evidence by “Floridians” as “proof of man-made catastrophic climate change” and to stick to the facts.
Mitchell claimed she was relying on academics and “industry people.”
Ramaswamy ended the conversation by reminding her she just used anecdotal evidence.
