Jerry Brown to Rick Scott: “Start doing something about climate change”

California Gov. Jerry Brown is calling on Gov. Rick Scott to stop the “silly political stunts and start doing something about climate change.”

Scott is in California this week as part of a trade mission to Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco. The Associated Press reported Scott is scheduled to meet with 13 companies. He also participated in a panel discussion being hosted by the Milken Institute.

In his letter to Scott, Brown welcomed the Naples Republican back to California, “a state that in the last year has added more jobs than Florida and Texas combined.”

“We’re home to Hollywood, Silicon Valley and more than 50 Fortune 500 companies. We attract more than half of the nation’s venture capital investment, win more than a quarter of the nation’s patents and grow much of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. We’re paying down debt and building a solid rainy day fund,” said Brown in his letter. “Rick, a fact you’d like to ignore: California is the 7th largest economic power in the world. We’re competing with nations like Brazil and France, not states like Florida.”

Brown then told Scott that if he is “truly serious about Florida’s economic well-being, it’s time to stop the silly political stunts and start doing something about climate change — two words you won’t even let state officials say.”

“The threat is real and so too will be the devastating impacts,” wrote Brown, before directing him to a report authored by the Risky Business Project called “Come Heat and High Water: Climate Risk in the Southeastern U.S. and Texas.”

The report notes Florida’s economy could suffer billions of dollars as labor productivity drops and the storm damage mounts due to extreme weather events.

“So, while you’re enjoying a stroll on one of California’s beautiful beaches this week, don’t stick your head in the sand,” wrote Brown. “Take a few minutes to read the rest of this report. There’s no time to waste.”