Global Warming Deniers In Congressional Driver’s Seat

Sen. James Inhofe, who is expected to the chair Environmental and Public Works Committee, denies man-made climate change.

By Ralph E. Stone

November 6. 2014

Following the midterm elections, Republicans remain firmly in control of the U.S. House of Representatives and now enjoy a majority in the U.S. Senate.  Senator James Inhofe (R-Ok) is expected to become Chairman of the Environmental and Public Works Committee (EPW).

The EPW controls the Environmental Protection Agency, which is charged with addressing climate change and what to do about it. Inhofe is probably the most idiotic global warming denier in Congress, who has called it a hoax.  Given the evidence of global warming, we can only shake our heads at Inhofe’s likely chairmanship of this important committee.

The midterm election came just after the publishing of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which concluded, among other things, that “Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems,” concluding that “If left unchecked, climate change will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. However, options are available to adapt to climate change and implementing stringent mitigations activities can ensure that the impacts of climate change remain within a manageable range, creating a brighter and more sustainable future.”

For years, global warming deniers have engaged in an effective disinformation campaign to undermined efforts to pass a clean energy bill to curb our addiction to oil and other fossil fuels, resulting in cleaner air, more renewable energy, a stronger dollar, and more innovative industries.  Even if 999 scientists out of 1,000 agreed that the main cause of the increase in global average temperatures in recent history is not because of any natural cycle — although natural cycles do exist — it is because of man, the deniers, of course, would seize on the minority of scientists who do not agree.

Inhofe and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R. Cal) probably represent the views of global warming debunkers. Inhofe called “the threat of catastrophic global warming the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” Rohrabacher called the science behind global warming “emotional junk science.”

The disinformation campaign has had its effect on public opinion.  According to an April 2014 Gallup poll, one in four polled is not worried about global warming much, or at all.

Clearly, the danger to our planet is real.  According to the IPCC report, coastal cities will become inundated by sea-level rise, storms and wildfires will wreak havoc on land, food shortages will cause widespread famine and starvation, and plants and animals will die off in droves.  This is the kind of world we may come to live in if we do not eliminate global greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century.

Denying global warming and its causes threatens all of humanity with slow, painful, untimely deaths.   Will the IPCC report change Senator Inhofe and his fellow Republicans view on global warming and get them to do something about global warming?  I somehow doubt it, but hope springs eternal.

Ralph E. Stone

I was born in Massachusetts; graduated from Middlebury College and Suffolk Law School; served as an officer in the Vietnam war; retired from the Federal Trade Commission (consumer and antitrust law); travel extensively with my wife Judi; and since retirement involved in domestic violence prevention and consumer issues.

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