Miami billionaire Phillip Frost questions humans’ impact on climate change

While Miami billionaire Phillip Frost says he believes in climate change’s existence, he questioned the impact humans have had on the earth’s deteriorating conditions during a broad interview on WLRN’s The Sunshine Economy.

The following was transcribed via the Miami Herald:

Though a broad consensus of scientists believe man-made climate change is real and consequential, Frost said “a lot of people make a living saying that.”

“It’s gotten to the point that to question that is heresy. So I don’t question that the climate is changing. The real question is what role have humans played?” he said. “The climate has been changing at a time when there were no humans and ever since. I think a real scientific approach has to take that into real account.”

Frost, who along with his wife, Patricia, were the key donors and namesake behind the newly opened Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami, says climate change has “become almost a religious issue rather than a scientific issue.”

“Certainly, Miami is a hotbed of activity for climate change and a lot of the original work on the subject was done right here in Miami. What I would like to see is for those people who are interested, a serious discussion about what it really is all about. It’s become such a big topic in the popular media that it’s become almost a religious issue rather than a scientific issue,” he said. “I’d like to bring it back more to the scientific level for serious discussion rather than a political debate.”

Climate change has been a stifling political topic across the U.S. in recent months, especially in wake of Donald Trump’s decision on June 1 to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.