Tag: climate science deniers

Devastating Report Confirms Earth is Losing the Battle Against Global Warming

Trish
We have record high sea surface temperatures. Illustration from NOAA Climate.gov
We have record high sea surface temperatures. Illustration from NOAA Climate.gov

2016 was the hottest year in 137 years of record-keeping, and the third in a row to be so noted. That and other omens are confirmed in a new report available from the American Meteorological Society called, “State of the Climate 2016.”

The report, peer-reviewed by international scientists, describes the following “highlights.”

  • Greenhouse gases highest on record
  • Global surface temperature highest on record
  • Sea surface temperatures highest on record
  • Global sea level highest on record
  • Extremes in the water cycle and precipitation
  • Arctic continued to warm, sea ice extent remained low
  • Antarctic has record low sea ice extent
  • Global ice and snow cover decline
  • Tropical cyclones well above average overall

[…]

Bush Claims Science is Undecided on Climate Change — and He Lives in Florida!

Buck Banks

For the people to say the science is decided on this is really arrogant, to be honest with you. It’s this intellectual arrogance that now you can’t have a conversation about it, even. The climate is changing. We need to adapt to that reality.

— Jeb Bush, hitting back against President Obama’s claim that climate change runs an immediate risk, adding that while it shouldn’t be ignored, it’s still not “the highest priority,” CNN reports.

McConnell Believes in Science — When It Suits Him

Buck Banks

Those who took a serious look at the science and the potential benefits reached the conclusion long ago. They understand that the whole drama over Keystone has been as protracted as it is unnecessary. We hope to turn the page on all of that today.

— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who regularly deflects questions about climate change by saying he is “not a scientist,” the New Republic reports. “But apparently McConnell will make an exception when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline. In remarks on the Senate floor, hours before a vote on a bill that fast-tracks construction of the pipeline, McConnell pointed to the ‘science’ supporting the legislation.”

Obama Does the Dozens on Climate-Change Deniers

Buck Banks

There are some who duck the question by saying, ‘Hey, I’m not a scientist.’ Let me translate that for you: What that means is, ‘I accept that man-made climate change is real, but if I admit it, I’ll be run out of town by a radical fringe that thinks climate science is a liberal plot.’

— President Obama, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, taking aim at climate change deniers.

Boehner Claims to Not Be ‘Qualified’ to Debate Climate Change

Buck Banks

It’s a strange form of reasoning. Very few of us are scientists, which is exactly why we tend to defer to scientific judgment. It might make sense to question expert consensus in a field where you are an expert, but if you know very little about it, you probably want to just go along with what the experts think. Scientists do, in fact, have a nearly unanimous view of anthropogenic global warming. Scientists likewise believe that chugging Liquid Drano is bad for your health, which is why, precisely because of my lack of scientific training, I hold off on the Drano Cocktails.

— Jonathan Chait, writing in New York Magazine in response to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) telling the Huffington Post “I’m not qualified to debate the science over climate change.”

New Super-PAC to Target GOP Climate-Change Deniers

Buck Banks

$100 million

Amount liberal billionaire and environmentalist Tom Steyer is using to create a Super PAC that will attack Republicans in seven key states who are climate-science deniers, NBC News reports. “These states — all of which President Barack Obama won in both 2008 and 2012 — also play an important role in 2016, given that Iowa and New Hampshire are early presidential nominating contests, and that Colorado and Florida are top general-election battlegrounds.”