In an item ScienceInsider ran yesterday, freshman Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL), the newly named chair of the House of Representatives science panel's basic research and education subcommittee, was asked by Jeffrey Mervis if human activity was causing global warming. His response:
That's a difficult question to answer because I've talked to scientists on both sides of the fence, especially at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Some say yes, and some say no…So I'm approaching the issue with a healthy degree of skepticism. If the evidence is there to prove it, then so be it.
With influential lawmakers exhibiting that sort of view, one had to wonder how a letter like the one sent on 28 January to Congress by 18 prominent climate scientists might fare. It begins:
As you begin your deliberations in the new 112th Congress, we urge you to take a fresh look at climate change. Climate change is not just an environmental threat but, as we describe below, also poses challenges to the U.S. economy, national security and public health. …We want to assure you that the science is strong and that there is nothing abstract about the risks facing our Nation.
It was no surprise when more than 70 skeptics hastily penned a response, sent to lawmakers yesterday and publicized by the industry-supported Heartland Institute.
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