Climate Distortions

I read an interesting article, Lawmakers Question Scientists About Climate Change, over at FoxNews.com. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is something I have wanted to dig into further and still plan to. Here is a quote from this article that I find interesting:

Rohrabacher asked the co-chairwoman of the IPCC what percentage of greenhouse gases are caused naturally rather than by human beings. Chairwoman Susan Solomon said carbon dioxide emissions, the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases, "is caused almost entirely by human beings."

Pressed again, she said: "A fair number, regarding the increase since 1750, is that
greater than 90 percent of the increase is caused by human activities."

"That wasn't the question, was it?" Rohrabacher retorted. "Listen, this is very dishonest, you're supposed to be a scientist."

Speaking to FOXNews.com, the congressman said Solomon's answer was "a total obfuscation" that "tries to exaggerate the actual amount of pollution being put into the atmosphere by human beings as compared to what nature does itself."

Rohrabacher explained that the answer he got does not reveal that perhaps only 5-10 percent of all greenhouse gases are made by humans even if the human contribution has increased by 90 percent over the last 100 years.

He added that it "makes no sense at all" to defund certain programs and dramatically change our way of life" when "one volcano is going to undo" all the improvements.

Rohrabacher said another scientist testifying at the hearing, Kevin E. Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, acknowledged that a graph he used in his testimony demonstrates an upward trend in temperature, but does not make clear that the starting point of 1850 was at the very end of a 500-year cooling period, a fact Trenberth readily admitted.

Rohrabacher said the graph, therefore, shows a "one degree change from the bottom. That doesn't sound very alarming to me." He also faulted scientists who use scare tactics to make their case.

"We've seen this over and over again, where they are trying to claim an almost unanimous consensus among scientist and it's not true. Usually that tactic is nothing more than just trying to stampede people than answer serious criticism," Rohrabacher said.

Rep. Rohrabacher makes some excellent points.