Putting together an exhaustive list of the wackiest things said about global warming is an almost impossible task.
Politicians, broadcasters, economists, commentators talk nonsense about climate change with little or no respite. But after a long and careful research, we still managed to select 10 prize idiotic statements on this topic.
1. Carbon dioxide "is literally unable to cause global warming."
People have tried to disprove climatological data in a variety of ways, but with this attempt to reject facts long established by atmospheric physics, little can compete. Fox News-featured meteorologist Joe Bastardi has stated that CO2 “literally” cannot cause warming because it “does not mix well with the atmosphere” (in fact, mixes well).
Global warming would also violate the First Rule of Thermodynamics, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, he said. In fact, global warming has nothing to do with the creation of new energy, but only with the capture of an existing atmosphere.
2. "There will be no snow - we will go water skiing."
Promotional video:
In 1990, as the world began to wake up to the catastrophes that climatology promised it, one economist at Yale decided to determine how much money was worth spending on fighting climate change, and concluded that not too much.
“People live in a wide variety of climatic zones. Cities are increasingly protected from the vagaries of the climate thanks to innovations such as air conditioning and shopping malls,”he said. Moreover, the expert continued, the sectors that will be most affected - for example, agriculture - still play a relatively small role in the economy today. Economic growth in other sectors is quite capable of compensating for the damage: "If there is no snow, we will go water skiing." How life-affirming!
Our author Bill McKibben scoffed at the idea to his heart's content in his 2007 book, Deep Economy. “Having microelectronics, of course, is great, but having something to dine on is a must,” wrote McKibben. "If global warming hurts" only "agriculture, other sectors may lose all meaning."
3. "We need to burn more coal to save the planet from global cooling."
Despite the scientific consensus that the planet is getting warmer, climate deniers still adore the "global cooling" myth. Of course, he looks especially attractive to the director of the coal company: this phrase is taken from Twitter, Don Blankenship, who was then head of Massey Energy.
4. Climate change is impossible because "God still exists."
In 2012, Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe argued that climatology is contrary to Christianity - no matter that many Christian leaders and structures take climate change very seriously. “I want to say that God still exists,” he told Voice of Christian Youth America, “and I am outraged by the pride of those who believe that we humans can change the climate He has created.”
Runner-up in the same category: In 2009, Republican Illinois Congressman John Shimkus said we had nothing to worry about and referred to a promise God made to Noah after the flood. “The end of the world will come only when God decides that the time has come for this,” he stressed. "People cannot destroy the Earth." Well, it's probably very nice to be sure of that.
5. God created fossil fuels "because He rejoices when we find them."
According to Bryan Fischer, director of the American Family Association, trying to conserve fossil fuels is like telling a friend that you don't like his birthday present. “This is how we behave with God, who gave us these abundant, cheap and efficient sources of fuel,” he said. “God buried these treasures because He rejoices when we find them.” Indeed, what bad form it is to refuse to play with God in search of treasures!
6. "It was so cold that the president put on a raincoat, but he still talked about global warming."
This pearl of Louisiana Republican Congressman Steve Scalise, who commented on President Obama's 2013 inaugural speech, continues the long and wacky tradition that particular cold weather examples are supposed to disprove scientific evidence of climate change. Consider the igloo hut that James Inhofe's family built on National Mall and called "Al Gore's new home," or the Virgin Republican announcement before the blizzard, in which they advised voters to call climate-proponents and "tell them how much global warming has hit you this weekend - maybe they will help clear it up."
Considering that more than one thousand articles have been written so far, explaining the simple fact that weather and climate are not the same thing at all, this joke becomes more stupid every time it comes to someone's head again.
7. "I thought it was true until I found out how much it would cost."
Again Senator Inhofe. Speaking to Rachel Maddow in 2012, he admitted that he stopped believing in global warming when he realized how much it would cost to minimize its effects. Besides the fact that it is extremely strange to deny the existence of the disease if you do not like the treatment, inaction in this area is actually much more expensive. The International Energy Agency estimates that for every year the world postpones meaningful action to combat climate change, we will have to pay an additional $ 500 billion in the future.
8. Climate advocates "value the Earth more than people."
Rick Santorum was one of the most likely GOP presidential candidates when he called climatology "false theology" - "a worldview that values the Earth more than people and instructs us not to touch natural resources so as not to damage the planet." … Santorum did not stop there and added: "God placed us - his creatures - on this Earth so that we could own it, use it wisely and dispose of it wisely, but for the good of ourselves, and not for the good of the Earth."
This juxtaposition of humans and the planet is another favorite topic of climate skeptics. They, apparently, rarely think of the obvious idea that a healthy earth is necessary for human society to function normally.
9. "100 years is a long time … It is likely that the very nature of human society will change dramatically, and this issue will become irrelevant."
This unusual line of reasoning comes from an article by Forbes currently published economist and blogger Karl W. Smith, “In Praise of Dirty Energy: There Are Worse Things Than Pollution and We Have Them ).
Smith does not argue with climatology, but still believes that we need to burn more fossil fuels to boost the economy. He believes that when the climate changes, people will simply build new cities or move north to Siberia and build a society so technologically advanced that they simply won't need a stable climate. It's easy to say …
10. “I have a theory about why people believe in global warming. Let's go back 30 or 40 years ago, when there were much fewer air conditioners in the country. When you left an unconditioned house on the street, it seemed to you that it was cooler because the houses were turning into ovens
The worst thing was in the summer on the second or third floor. All that remained was to open all the windows and turn on the fan - if there was one. At least hire someone to fan you with a piece of paper. You go outside - it's also hellishly hot, but cooler. 30-40 years have passed, air conditioners are everywhere. I went outside: Oh my God, it's hot! Here it is, global warming. And the whole point is what to compare with."
Clear? All these scientists, who agree with the model of long-term climate change, were simply baffled by their own air conditioners. So that's it. Thanks to Rush Limbaugh for easy loot.