GOP House Science Chair: Melting Arctic Sea Ice A Win For The Earth
Source: Talking Points Memo
By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JULY 25, 2017 11:26 AM
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), noted climate change denier and chair of the House Science Committee, on Monday penned an eyebrow-raising op-ed that argued there are benefits to a changing climate.
The benefits of a changing climate are often ignored and under-researched. Our climate is too complex and the consequences of misguided policies too harsh to discount the positive effects of carbon enrichment, Smith wrote in an op-ed for The Daily Signal, a website run by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Smith acknowledged that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing and argued that it would help plant growth and farming. He also posited that sea ice melting in the Arctic would open up new shipping routes, spinning ice melt as a positive change for the Earth.
The use of fossil fuels and the byproducts of carbon enrichment play a large role in advancing the quality of human life by increasing food production to feed our growing population, stimulating the economy, and alleviating poverty, he wrote. Bad deals like the Paris Agreement would cost the U.S. billions of dollars, a loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and have no discernible impact on global temperatures.
Smith, as chair of the House Science Committee, has led a crusade against climate scientists, in particular targeting a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study in 2015. He has also gone after environmental groups and state attorneys general over investigations into ExxonMobils climate change denialism.
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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/lamar-smith-benefits-climate-change
virtualobserver
(8,760 posts)amazing
Chipper Chat
(9,678 posts)I'm guessing he doesn't own property on the Florida coast.
longship
(40,416 posts)So it melting would have little effect on sea level. Only land-based ice melting substantially raises sea level.
The real problem with melting Arctic ice is the change in albedo, a positive feedback effect. Ice reflects sunlight back into space, including infrared. The ocean absorbs proportionally more infrared, making the planet warmer and, due to expansion, increases sea level a bit.
The real worrisome Arctic ice is on Greenland.
I know people already know this. Just outlining the science for thread readers.
But this guy is indeed a dumbass!
procon
(15,805 posts)Is it something like a tornado would be called a "wind enrichment".
A flood then becomes a "water enrichment".
A wildfire would be called a "rapid oxidation enrichment".
A toxic spill is a "chemical enrichment".
This man is so stupid it hurts my eyes to read his craziness.
Moostache
(9,895 posts)These assholes should be made an example of...not by harming them, but by immortalizing their stupidity and absolute slavish devotion to disinformation at the behest of their pay masters...
I want to see Bronzed statues of these people....Inahofe, "Lord" Monckton, Trump, this shit heel....and I want a Hall of Fame for liars and assholes...the inaugural class is already full, so we may need an immediate expansion...any one got a good parcel of land to donate to the cause?
nykym
(3,063 posts)Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository
Javaman
(62,521 posts)ck4829
(35,069 posts)Inuit, Siberians, etc.?
What about their ways of life? This is genocide for them.
lark
(23,097 posts)What about flooding, moron? Parts of Miami already flood every day! Most of the coastal cities in FL are predicted to be under water when the icebergs melt, along with big parts of the East Coast as well. NO, gone! Those are places where millions and millions of people live. Tell me, asswipe, how these are positive things!
It kills or displaces all those "big-gummit" liberals. Many coastal areas are solidly Democrat.
lark
(23,097 posts)If he had an oz. of brains, he'd be trying to protect them from harm.
haele
(12,649 posts)Venus has a problem with the effect of run-away greenhouse gasses, but it took billions of years to get that way, so we'll be okay, and our immediate grandkids will be okay, and that's all that matters - the people we know right now.
This is what I've heard from GOP, Libertarians, and other Evilangelical "Pragmatic Science Skeptics" -
So, we'll lose some nice scenery, and half the species on earth before we as individuals die. But it's more important we get the money and power to do what we want right now.
Technology will take care of the future generations. And we've got lots of pictures and video, and some genetic samples, so we can always remake what we lost if we want to.
Haele
byronius
(7,394 posts)And new species! Right out of the melting tundra! Maybe a Tyrannosaur or something!
volstork
(5,400 posts)Except it's not.
Grins
(7,217 posts)Waitaminute! How can something that you deny exists have benefits?
0rganism
(23,944 posts)1. Global warming isn't happening
2. Global warming is happening but it's not man-made
3. Global warming will be good for our environment <--(where the esteemed Congresscritter is now)
4. Global warming isn't happening! I never said any of that other stuff! (rinse and repeat until underwater *glub glub*)
sinkingfeeling
(51,448 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)Vogon_Glory
(9,117 posts)Not us humans.
benld74
(9,904 posts)and you get back 3 pages of hits
ALL bat shit crazzzy shit like Einstein spouts in his article
Another, though interesting flounts the ability to grow and test plants
OUTSIDE of labratory because?
the CO2 outside is higher!!!!
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Canadas fishing fleets. Even further north the open seas are trawled dry by Russia and China.
jumping carp, lion fish, boa constrictors, pigeons, german rats and English starlings- invasive species take over for hungry americans
steve2470
(37,457 posts)They live with higher sea levels every day, street flooding on many days. Other east coast communities have the same problem.
I despair for our democracy some days.
truthisfreedom
(23,146 posts)And not a very good one.
ismnotwasm
(41,976 posts)What an asshole that
xor
(1,204 posts)is going to morph into as it becomes more and more difficult to deny the effects of it.
Freethinker65
(10,016 posts)Skittles
(153,154 posts)deny, deny, deny, then when the evidence is overwhelming: OK yeah but IT'S NOT SUCH A BAD THING