“Climate change is real. The climate has been changing since day one,” Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter said at a recent meeting with the Golden Isles Republican Women. “We’ve seen it through history, we know the climate is changing. There was a time back in the 70s when it was getting colder, and we were afraid we were going to have more freezing of areas. Now we’ve got just the opposite.” A member of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Carter has been outspoken of late when it comes to the need for mitigation, adaptation, and innovation.
“I represent the entire coast of Georgia, 100 miles of pristine coastline. I’ve lived here all my life, it’s where I intend to live the rest of my life,” Carter said. “I love this coast, and I’m never going to do anything to harm this coast. I believe that we need to make sure we’ve got a representative on this committee for our coast, that’s why I volunteered for it.”
Elected in 2014, his congressional district includes the entire Georgia coastline, areas vulnerable to sea level rise and erosion due to climate change. “We need to mitigate this to make it as less-impactful on us as we can. We need to adapt to it.”