Senate committee again debates existence of climate change

[TomCADem]

Source: NBC

The Senate Environment Committee was supposed to discuss the details of President Obama’s environmental policy and the issue of man-made climate change. But the four-hour discussion was once again sidelined by an argument over whether or not humans are disrupting the global environment in the first place.

The infighting started early, during opening statements. Committee chair Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, attempted to preempt denialism from her Republican colleagues by opening with a brief statement in which she said catastrophic climate change is already “unfolding before our very eyes.”

“Future generations are going to look back on this moment and judge each of us—each of us—on whether we started to act on this issue,” she said.

Much of the committee’s Republican minority disagreed. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, one of the party’s most prominent climate deniers, accused the president and the EPA of denying “the truth.” Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker suggested that the science on the issue was not yet settled.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.com/all/senate-republicans-what-climate-change

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In other news, when asked for a glass of water, Sen. Inhofe debated whether water is actually wet.

[riversedge]

1. Sen. Sessions was very rude during the hearing with his

more than pointed stupid questions and claims. I watched a bit of it yesterday on cspan. The Republicans did not come to the meeting to debate but to lie and obstruct (to put mildly).

[Swede Atlanta]

2. For Inhofe and Wicker, the science is not yet settled that the earth is round.......

The overwhelming consensus of scientists is that the earth is warming and that a significant, but not exclusive factor, is human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels.

No one disputes that the earth has undergone climate changes over the billions of years. Yes, there are natural fluctuations in the earth's mean temperature.

The differences here are
(a) Human existence, especially supporting the billions of people alive today, depends on a very narrow climate balance. Even minute variations in climate can be devastating if not totally eliminate the species
(b) Scientists are in general agreement that human activity is exacerbating climate change. We may be in for a period of natural climate change but human activity is exaggerating that change.

If the window for human existence is narrow and we are ourselves enhancing what could be a naturally-occuring change in climate, doesn't it make sense for us to adopt policies that "do no harm"?

The likes of Inhofe and Wicker should be relegated to the Dark Ages.

[Baalzamon]

3. There's a debate?

?

[Jerry442]

4. Elected officials don't make the big decisions about the country anymore.

So, all the serious people have gone off to pursue other goals, and the Congress is being emptied of intelligent, rational and hardworking people, and filling up with clowns.