Demings: We Must ‘Acknowledge Climate Change and Take it Extremely Seriously’

U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that Americans needed to “acknowledge climate change and take it extremely seriously” with a federal response.

Demings said, “We are not going to be where we need to be until we acknowledge climate change and take it extremely seriously. It is something we are certainly looking at through the Committee on Homeland Security at the federal level. Look how much more do we need to experience before we except hurricanes are becoming more intense, more severe. We have several tornado watches going on right here in Florida. We see extreme flooding  particular in south Florida with the rise of the sea level. It time to stop taking about it we all need to come to the table and realize that climate change is real.”

She added, “Ian is one of the largest more intense storms that we have seen in the history of Florida. Look, I grew up in Florida. I’ve worked as a first responder for almost 30 years. This is certainly not my first storm, but certainly the intensity of this storm should call all of us to concern.”

Demings concluded, “We have to come together, as I said, at the local and state level. We’ve got to join the federal partners, and deal with this issue, particularly in the state of Florida.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN