Jerry Brown: Don’t Expand Oil and Gas, Because Climate Change Like War

Former California Governor Jerry Brown urged the U.S. not to expand domestic oil and gas production to help in the crisis triggered by the ongoing Russian war because climate change is like a war that will kill people over a long period of time.

Brown, who made climate change the focus of his last two terms in office before leaving office in 2019, has not made many forays into public debate since leaving the political scene. But he wants the U.S. to keep restricting fossil fuel production.

The Associated Press reported:

In an interview with The Associated Press, Brown commended President Joe Biden for not raising the U.S. nuclear threat level after Russian President Vladimir Putin made veiled threats to use his country’s nuclear arsenal amid its war in Ukraine. Brown also urged Biden to resist Republican calls to increase oil production as gasoline prices soar.

“It’s true that the Russians are earning money from oil and gas, but to compound that problem by accelerating oil and gas in America would go against the climate goals, and climate is like war: If we don’t handle it, people are going to die and they’re going to be suffering. Not immediately, but over time,” said Brown, a Democrat.

While in office, Brown made a habit of flying around the world to address climate change conferences, despite the cost to the planet of burning carbon on international flights. California contributes a negligible share of the world’s emissions; China is the main driver of greenhouse gases, and even President Joe Biden’s own climate change envoy, John Kerry, has admitted that climate change would not be solved even if the U.S. went to “zero” emissions.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.