Democratic presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the wildfires in Maui and elsewhere in Hawaii are a problem that can unite both activists and skeptics of climate change, because the underlying cause is poor environmental management.
In a series of tweets Friday, Kennedy cited reports that the devastating blazes were fueled by invasive grassland species that had grown on former farmland that had been abandoned.
Hawaii fires result from poor tending of the land. First, industrial ag plantations obliterated native ecosystems. When these farms were abandoned, combustible invasive grasses took over.https://t.co/WNEp5HnRIz
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 11, 2023
Climate change may be a factor too. But we must resist the seduction of a simplistic global explanation for every environmental problem. Top priority has to be on healing soil, forests, wetlands, rivers, and oceans, instead of treating them as resources to strip and waste dumps.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 11, 2023
Stop ruining land + water. Stop poisoning the earth. Protect what remains + regenerate what was damaged. Healthy ecosystems stabilize weather and mitigate flood-drought cycle. They also draw down carbon.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 11, 2023
Everyone can get behind land + water healing whatever their views on climate change.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 11, 2023
As President I am going to unite climate activists and skeptics in an environmental renaissance the likes of which we have not seen since the 1960s. #Kennedy24
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 11, 2023
In a statement on Friday, Kennedy elaborated:
“My heart goes out to the people of Maui and the families who have lost loved ones.
“We need to stop ruining land and water and stop poisoning the earth. We need to protect what remains and regenerate what was damaged. Healthy ecosystems stabilize weather and mitigate the flood-drought cycle. They also draw down carbon.
“Environmental problems don’t always have a simplistic global cause. Earth is a complex system. Therefore, our top priority has to be on healing soil, forests, wetlands, rivers, and oceans, instead of treating them as resources to strip and waste dumps.
“I believe everyone can get behind land and water healing whatever their views on climate change.
“As President, I am going to unite climate activists and skeptics in an environmental renaissance the likes of which we have not seen since the 1960s.”
Kennedy had also published a video the day before on the theme of unity, addressing political rifts within families:
Several members of his own family have opposed his presidential run, and some have even attacked him in public.
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 new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
