Congressional Testimony: A Surprising Consensus On Climate

Lasrick writes: Many legislators regularly deny that there is a scientific consensus, or even broad scientific support, for government action to address climate change. Researchers recently assessed the content of congressional testimony related to either global warming or climate change from 1969 to 2007. For each piece of testimony, they recorded several characteristics about how the testimony discussed climate. For instance, noting whether the testimony indicated that global warming or climate change was happening and whether any climate change was attributable (in part) to anthropogenic sources. The results: Testimony to Congress—even under Republican reign—reflects the scientific consensus that humans are changing our planet's climate.

Comments

Re:Alert!

[blindseer]

Exactly. Science is not a democracy. We don't get to vote on the rules of physics, they are what they are even if we agree with them or not.

Here's a few things I picked up while following the climate change debate. Windmills and solar panels are expensive and unreliable means to produce electricity. Because they are unreliable we need something reliable to back them up. Right now, with current technology and politics, that means natural gas turbines.

While natural gas turbines are cheap and reliable they are not particularly efficient. So when we mix wind, solar, and natural gas together we get expensive electricity and no real carbon savings over having just burned that natural gas in a steam boiler for electricity.

People that believe we should reduce carbon output and also believe that nuclear power will kill us all are rejecting science twice over. I'll give on the global warming shit so long as we get nuclear power out of it. If the answer is not nuclear power then I will fight anyone that claims fossil fuels will be the end of us all.

It's fossil fuels, nuclear power, or the lights go out. A true scientist would admit we know very little about the environment. Anyone that says they've solved the equation is either delusional or trying to sell something. I'm not buying.