As Carbon Pollution Hits Record Level, Senator Inhofe Says Climate Change Is Greening the Planet

[n2doc]

Scientists may have recorded another unsettling milestone in the buildup of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, but leave it to Oklahoma senator — and snowball aficionado — James Inhofe to find the bright side.

In a rambling broadside against the Obama administration's plans to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Inhofe said climate "alarmists" are ignoring the positive things those emissions are doing for the world's plants.

"People don't realize you can't grow things without CO2," Inhofe, the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said on the chamber's floor Wednesday. "CO2 is a fertilizer. It's something you can't do without. No one ever talks about the benefits that people are inducing from that as a fertilizer." That buildup has led "to a greening of the planet and contributed to increasing agricultural productivity," he said.

The overwhelming majority of climate scientists, however, warn that the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases — a byproduct of burning coal, oil, and natural gas — are changing the Earth's climate at an unnaturally rapid rate. The warming that results is likely to bring a future of rising seas and more intense storms and droughts, with the world's poor bearing the brunt of the effects.

more

https://news.vice.com/article/as-carbon-pollution-hits-record-level-senator-james-inhofe-says-climate-change-is-greening-the-planet

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

1. And water is life giving, unless you drink it from a firehose.

[leftofcool]

2. Has he been out West lately?

[Buzz Clik]

3. It is a shame we cannot ignore this ignorant man.

[HassleCat]

4. Great!

Inhofe accepts the idea that CO2 is building up and causing changes. He even seems to accept that we're doing it, although I'm sure he'll back away from that.

[stuntcat]

5. "with the world's poor bearing the brunt of the effects."

This is what kills me. Our consumption is affecting the whole world. The animals have absolutely no rights and get very little consideration, we'll wipe them right out and no one cares. But millions of people will suffer too, there will be more climate refuges every year from now on.