I know Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s pick to head the EPA; he replaced the egregious Drew Edmondson as Oklahoma Attorney General.
Pruitt seems like a good man.
But Sen. Bernie Sanders (I‑Vt) says different. “Mr. Pruitt’s record is not only that of being a climate change denier, but also …”
Wait: that “climate change denier” charge is everywhere. But all I’ve seen is assertion.
It would indeed be weird were he — or anyone — to deny the reality of climate change. Way back in my Seventies’ youth, I saw all sorts of climate change articles … predicting a new Ice Age.
Decades later, the headlines began to change: Global Warming was in.
But note: those Seventies’ articles usually mentioned that the world had been heating out of the recent Little Ice Age, with the thaw beginning before the dreaded Industrial Revolution.
I bet that what our new Trump pick really believes is that
- warm weather is generally better than cold weather;
- CO2 is not a poison as such (plants thrive with more carbon dioxide);
- every major climate model has predicted more warming than we’ve experienced; and
- stifling progress to offset poorly understood climate events would be disastrous, especially for the poor.
Betting aside, what does Pruitt believe? The Advocate actually repeats the disproven “97 percent of climate scientists” meme to pile on the abuse*, but did link to a National Review article Pruitt co-authored with Alabama’s attorney general.
They did not deny climate change, merely insisting that “the debate is far from settled.” More importantly, they argued that governments should not intimidate energy companies in service to the climate cause. Instead, they called for open debate.
Shocking!
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* The Advocate also irrelevantly charged Pruitt with “transphobia.” But then, Trump’s Small Business Administration pick, Linda McMahon, has also been tarred with the “climate denier” charge, which is as irrelevant to an SBA head as vegetarianism would be for a Secretary of Treasury.
Original (cc) photo by Gage Skidmore on Flickr
3 replies on “Climate Change Assertions”
For the last 20 years or so, science itself has denied climate change and admitted that the present period is static. Facts have to be recognized…
We learned lots of old wives tales in our youth Paul. And pretty much all the climate models have vastly UNDERestimated the recorded heating. I don’t know where you got your information but I get mine from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration here in Boulder Colorado. They know infinitely more than anybody did in the seventies. That was 40 plus years ago, Paul. Their satellites, instruments, models Etc are a thousand times better now
Say Paul,
I remember the “imminent ice age” of the Seventies as well. A previous assertion of the current “global warming / climate change” faktion. Back then, they recommended taking all of that filthy soot and ash from the world’s coal power plants and trash incinerators, then covering the polar ice caps with it. Why? To absorb more heat from the sun, and PREVENT more ice forming. Nice. Poor polar bears and penguins, huh?