Climate Scientists Slap Down Full-Frontal Idiocy From Right-Wing Queensland Senator On Warming
An Australian senator has attempted to undermine the entire theory of the greenhouse effect with a bizarre viral claim that scientists have been ignoring gravity’s role in heating the planet. The tweet from the Queensland senator Gerard Rennick, a member of the conservative Liberal National party of Queensland which is part of the main opposition Coalition, has gone viral this week and has been met with scorn, derision and plenty of corrections from high-profile climate scientists.
“Senator, you should be thankful you can’t be impeached for ignorance,” wrote Prof Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. In the tweet, made last month and viewed more than 850,000 times, Rennick posted a video with the words “scientists ignore the fact that gravity plays a role in heating the earth … That’s why ‘Net Zero’ CO2 emissions won’t stop ‘Climate Change’.” The video features Rennick appearing in a session of parliament where he asked a bemused head of a government science agency whether “gases [in the atmosphere] trap convection”. Dr Chris Colose, a climate scientist at Nasa, replied on Twitter that Rennick’s question “do gases trap convection”, “doesn’t even make sense as a statement. Nor does it discount the importance of [greenhouse gases].”
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Engaging on Twitter, Mann described Rennick’s statement as “gibberish” and a “stringing together of scientific terms reminiscent of monkeys typing on a typewriter”. When Rennick accused Mann of “cancelling gravity” in his explanations of the greenhouse effect, Mann showed him a mathematical explanation of how air temperatures change depending on altitude.
Link to tweet
Associate Prof Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales Canberra, pointed to Rennick’s areas of expertise, which don’t include atmospheric physics or climate science. “He’s got no expertise whatsoever. It’s a bit like me going and doing someone else’s taxes. I wouldn’t. There’s no point,” she said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/05/climate-experts-hit-back-at-australian-politicians-bizarre-theory-about-gravitys-role-in-global-heating
