In an op-ed for Fox News, Rep. Lamar Smith, the chairman of the House science committee, made a host of false and misleading claims about climate change and related issues.
Smith’s Error-Filled Climate Op-Ed
Issues: extreme weather
Will Global Warming Benefit Civilization?
Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt suggests that global warming isn’t necessarily “a bad thing” because “humans have most flourished during times of … warming.” But recent years have been the warmest humans have seen over at least the last millennium.
Hurricane Harvey and Climate Change
Hurricane Harvey has brought with it both a record amount of rain and questions about how much climate change can be blamed for the storm. Climate change did not cause Harvey, or any other storm, but it makes intense storms like Harvey more likely to occur, scientists say.
CO2: Friend or Foe to Agriculture?
Rep. Lamar Smith said climate change “alarmists” ignore the “positive impacts” of more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, such as increased food production and quality. But the impact of increased CO2 levels on agriculture is more complicated than that — and, on balance, likely negative, particularly in the future.
White House on Climate, Heat Deaths
In a recent “fact sheet” on the threat climate change poses to human health, the White House cherry-picked data on the estimated number of premature deaths due to future extreme temperatures.