Category: Press Release

During the first Democratic presidential debate, a number of candidates stated that climate change was an existential threat, one of our biggest national security threats, or their first priority. Here are some follow-up questions they all should be asked:

1. Would they outlaw gasoline-powered cars and diesel-powered trucks? How about trucks carrying diesel generators to rescue electric cars stranded between charging stations? Emergency vehicles or farm equipment or excavation equipment with internal combustion engines?

2.  Would they restrict meat consumption, air conditioning and heating, elevators, or home appliances such as clothes driers?

3. What would supply back-up generating capacity when solar and wind facilities are not generating any power?

4. How much increase in electrical bills is acceptable? What do they think of increases in Germany and Australia?

5. How much should homeowners be expected to pay to retrofit their homes for new energy-efficiency standards?

6. How many jobs will be lost in mining, oil and gas production, automobile manufacturing and servicing, other industries that require large amounts of reliable electricity, the trucking industry, etc.?

7. What will happen to living standards?

8. How much will climate change will result?

For other major issues related to atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate (wildfires, health effects, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, Arctic ice, hurricanes, and more), see Climate Change IQ test. How well does your favorite candidate do?

More than 300 scientists have sent a letter and background information to the president of the American Museum of Natural History in response to demands to remove Rebekah Mercer, a generous donor, from the Board of Trustees, reports Physicians for Civil Defense.

These demands come from agitators waving signs in front of the museum and an open letter circulating on the internet that amassed signatures from self-styled scientists. These include well-known proponents of the catastrophic, human-caused global warming (now climate change) hypothesis, along with many with no apparent scientific credentials, observes Physicians for Civil Defense president, Jane M. Orient, M.D.

The protestors complain that the Mercer Family Foundation has donated to politicians they don’t like and to supporters of scientists who dissent from the climate-change narrative, defaming them as “ringleaders of climate denial.” In fact, dissent is essential to science, and those who attempt to silence it are truly anti-science, Dr. Orient stated.

The letter to AMNH reads: “The case for harm from catastrophic global warming is growing weaker as more is learned about the Earth’s climate system, and about the poor predictive power of computer climate models. The Earth has supported abundant life many times in the geological past when there were much higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is quite likely that future generations will benefit from the enrichment of Earth’s atmosphere with more carbon dioxide. And there is no doubt that policies advocated by many of the protestors will cause economic harm across the world, especially to those hoping to climb out of poverty.”

Signers of the letter include two Nobel laureates, Ivar Giaever (physics, 1973) and Kary Mullis (chemistry, 1993), and many other esteemed, highly accomplished scientists, notes Dr. Orient. “The American Museum of Natural History should not tarnish its long and honorable tradition by allowing political pressure and street theater to dictate its policy,”

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