On Wednesday afternoon, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell devoted the last segment of her show to pushing global warming alarmism as she gave liberal environmentalist Michael Mann a forum to push moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema into supporting the liberal agenda on carbon emission regulations.
Mitchell completely fell for the hype as she concluded by declaring that recent extreme weather events should convince doubters even though such events are historically not unprecedented.
After recalling that her guest had joined other activist scientists in sending a letter to Congress to lobby on the issue, she began by posing: "What is it going to take for Congress to get past Joe Manchin's objections and get this done?"
As he pushed for Senators Manchin and Sinema to vote with other Democrats, he warned:
What I would say to them is, "Look, we have a shrinking window of opportunity -- a quickly shrinking window of opportunity to prevent truly catastrophic climate change if we act boldly now." So if we fail, we will leave behind a planet -- a fundamentally degraded planet for our children and grandchildren. I don't think they want that to be their legacy. There's still time for them to be on the right side of this issue -- to join with the other Democrats and pass this reconciliation package with these climate provisions intact so that we do get action we so urgently need now.
In her first followup, Mitchell fretted that it might already be too late because a "critical juncture" has been reached when action is allegedly necessary, leading Mann to further intone:
We're already seeing catastrophic climate change impacts. All we have to do is look out West where we're seeing record wildfires -- destructive wildfires that are threatening the world's oldest tree right now and, of course, the super storms that we've experienced back East. So dangerous climate change has arrived, but we can still prevent a catastrophic three-degree Fahrenheit warming of the planet where we will see the most severe impacts -- where we will start to exceed our adaptive capacity as a civilization.
Completely taken in by the left's climate hysteria, Mitchell concluded:
If this summer and the wildfires, the floods, the hurricanes -- if this summer didn't bring it all home to Americans and American politicians, I don't know what could have because it has just been so tragic for so many people. And the billions we are spending on rescuing and trying to restore and rebuild after each of these storms is, you know, dwarfed by what it would be if we do nothing.
This episode of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports was sponsored in part by Miracle Ear. Click on the link to let them know what you think.
Complete transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
September 22, 2021
12:52 p.m. Eastern
ANDREA MITCHELL: President Biden told the U.N. that he is going to work alongside Congress to double funding by 2024 to help developing nations deal with global warming. The fate of infrastructure legislation on Capitol Hill will be critical to make the President's plans a reality. Joining us now,, Penn State distinguished professor of atmospheric science, Michael Mann, author of the New Climate War. The Fight to Take Back Our Planet. Thank you very much. You were one of 21 top U.S. scientists who sent a letter to congressional leaders asking them to go big on climate and green energy solutions. What is it going to take for Congress to get past Joe Manchin's objections and get this done?
MICHAEL MANN, PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Yeah, thanks, Andrea. Well, you know, you sort of cut to the heart of the matter, right? We need 50 Democratic votes to pass a reconciliation package that has these very important climate provisions. Thus far, Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema -- two Democratic Senators -- have been holdouts here. What I would say to them is, "Look, we have a shrinking window of opportunity -- a quickly shrinking window of opportunity to prevent truly catastrophic climate change if we act boldly now." So if we fail, we will leave behind a planet -- a fundamentally degraded planet for our children and grandchildren. I don't think they want that to be their legacy. There's still time for them to be on the right side of this issue -- to join with the other Democrats and pass this reconciliation package with these climate provisions intact so that we do get action we so urgently need now.
MITCHELL: And is it now already too late given, you know, how rapidly -- according to the U.N. secretary general's speech yesterday -- we are already at a critical juncture, even with the ongoing commitments that people have made, are not nearly enough to accomplish what has to be done?
MANN: Yeah. Well, make no mistake, Andrea. I mean, we're already seeing catastrophic climate change impacts. All we have to do is look out West where we're seeing record wildfires -- destructive wildfires that are threatening the world's oldest tree right now and, of course, the super storms that we've experienced back East. So dangerous climate change has arrived, but we can still prevent a catastrophic three-degree Fahrenheit warming of the planet where we will see the most severe impacts -- where we will start to exceed our adaptive capacity as a civilization. If we act now, sure, some of the damage is already baked in. We can see that right now on our television screen. But we can prevent the worst impacts. The impacts will stop getting worse if we bring our carbon emissions to zero. And we have to bring them down by about 50 percent within the next decade to be on track to do that.
MITCHELL: Let's go back to the announcement the President made at the U.N. If he cannot make it happen by the time he goes to the Glasgow climate summit in six weeks, how is that going to impact America's ability to lead the world and press others like China into action?
MANN: Well, make no mistake, the, you know, Biden administration -- the Biden administration has done quite a bit already through executive actions and his commitment to provide $11 billion of funding to developed nations -- developing nations so they will leapfrog. We need them to leapfrog past the fossil fuel stage directly into the clean energy stage if we're going to prevent, again, catastrophic warming of the planet. And providing financing to them is going to make a big difference.
And China has just agreed to not provide any more financing for international projects. So there are a lot of good things happening. And part of it is because the Biden administration has sort of reasserted American leadership on this issue. That brings other actors to the table. So -- but make no mistake, to really get the action, the policies we need, we've got to pass this reconciliation package. And those two holdout Democrats have to make sure that their legacy not be that we fail to act on the climate crisis when it was -- when we had an opportunity because of partisan politics that they became beholden to.
MITCHELL: If this summer and the wildfires, the floods, the hurricanes -- if this summer didn't bring it all home to Americans and American politicians, I don't know what could have because it has just been so tragic for so many people. And the billions we are spending on rescuing and trying to restore and rebuild after each of these storms is, you know, dwarfed by what it would be if we do nothing.
MANN: Yeah.
