House Cmte Meets To Debate Carbon Costs, Ends Up "Debating" Existence Of Warming

[hatrack]

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A number of committee members, as well as several of the majority witnesses, eventually began to express views suggesting that human-caused emissions are not the primary driver of climate change, or that natural climate variations may play a larger role. “Can anyone on the panel give me a date certain, even a year certain, that there was absolutely no climate change on this planet since the forming of it?” Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) asked the witnesses at one point.

“Since the release of CO2, it has been changing more rapidly,” Greenstone responded, to which Posey responded, “That’s speculative,” while an unidentified voice among the committee members added, “That’s not true.” Witnesses Dayaratna and Michaels both responded that they thought the climate has been changing since the planet was formed.

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But although greening is indeed occurring in some places, and increased carbon dioxide concentrations may benefit plants up to a point, research overwhelmingly suggests that the overall impact of climate change — which will have effects far beyond the agricultural sphere — will be resoundingly negative. And even when it comes to agriculture, the benefits brought by increased carbon dioxide will likely be offset by the stress of rising temperatures in many places, especially parts of the world that have warm climates today.

The surfacing of these kinds of climate doubts at Tuesday’s hearing only raise more questions about the future of the social cost of carbon, which — until now — has mostly been used to inform policies intended to combat climate change. It was an integral component of the Clean Power Plan, for instance, which is one of many environmental regulations the Trump administration has expressed an interest in dissolving. Up to this point, experts have been skeptical about the Trump administration’s ability to eliminate the social cost of carbon altogether, or even significantly reduce its value, without being struck down in court. But with members of both the Trump administration and Congress increasingly questioning its very purpose — to help account for the dangers of climate change — its future is looking ever more uncertain.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/28/members-of-congress-met-to-discuss-the-costs-of-climate-change-they-ended-up-debating-its-existence/?utm_term=.8533b3afb1df

[Docreed2003]

1. Why are our politicians so polite to these climate deniers??

Why not call them out for being the morons that they are and stop allowing them to spew their bullshit. The GOP is driven by two things on this issue: 1). Industry interests 2). The evangelical belief that God gave us the world to do with as we please and we couldn't possibly ruin it because Gods in control.

We need to start calling out this idiocy for what it is.