Two federal agencies this month took steps that would allow the oil and gas industry to release more methane, a greenhouse gas, into the environment. Critics warned that methane is more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping the Earth’s heat, but some gave wildly divergent figures to describe how much more potent.
During a recent hearing on the role of innovation in addressing climate change, several Republicans made faulty claims about the climate, past and present.
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.
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.
In a recent interview with the British station ITV, President Donald Trump falsely implied the globe’s ice caps are at “record” high levels. But ice caps generally have been declining worldwide.
Sen. James Inhofe misleadingly claimed that the statistics behind the globe’s likely hottest years on record — 2014, 2015 and 2016 — were “meaningless” because the temperature increases were “well within the margin of error.” Taking into account the margins of error, there’s still a long-term warming trend.
Q: Did climate change cause the wildfires out West?
A: Scientists say a hot and dry summer — conditions more likely in a warmer world — caused widespread wildfires in Western states. But land use changes also have played a role.
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.
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.
In an interview on CNBC, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said carbon dioxide is not “the primary control knob” for the Earth’s temperature and climate. But scientists say it’s “extremely likely” that human activity — primarily CO2 emissions — is the main cause of global warming.