“ Hello and welcome to the Scoop Chamber. I am your host Dingo Rusher.
“In this edition of our show we have with us Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma. Thanks Senator for stopping by today.”
“Thank you for having me Dingo.”
“Let’s get right to it Senator. Your opposition to the very notion that global warming is a real phenomenon is legendary. Given all of the scientific evidence that supports it, I gotta ask Senator, what makes you think it’s not happening?”
“Dingo, there’s much too much evidence to detail it all here.”
“I am sure Senator, but we have plenty of time, why don’t you give us the highlights?”
“And we have to be clear Dingo, the dire predictions of the liberal climate alarmists are just self serving tactics. These so called scientists and others want to keep the government money train flowing directly into their pockets. By continuing to cry global warming and its alleged consequences, they can continue to apply for expensive research grants to keep lining their pockets. It’s a totally self serving cycle I intend to put an end to!”
“Senator, I did not think it was a very hard question. What evidence do you have that global warming is not real?”
“And let’s not forget the jobs that are going to be lost. That’s one of the things you in the press never like to talk about!”
“I would be happy to talk about jobs AFTER you answer my question. Or are you trying to dodge it as you claim the press does?”
“I’m not dodging anything Dingo! It is well known that there is no consensus on man made global warming. If the science is not in yet, how can we justify spending money to fix a problem we don’t have?”
“Because Senator, to make it as simple as I can for you, there is a consensus, and there has been for nearly forty years.
“Let me review the history of this question for a bit to give you some context. The idea of our planet potentially getting warmer as a consequence of increasing CO2 levels caused by humanity’s burning of coal, was first posited by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius in 1896. By the 50’s, scientists had begun to find solid evidence that human activity was increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, and that the climate was getting warmer as a result. After twenty some years of study, by the early 80’s, it was pretty much settled, at least among the scientific community, that global warming was real, and further, that humans were the cause of it. “
“Now wait a minute there Dingo! Like I told you, scientists don’t agree today on this question, how do you figure there was any kind of consensus over thirty years ago?”
“Senator, the question of consensus, sadly, has to be continually updated, mainly because you Repubs continue to deny the validity of every study that confirms it. As an example, Dr. James Powell summarized a study he did to give some perspective on the support among scientists for man caused global warming (Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 2015, p.42). His article, “The Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming” looked at publishing climate scientists from 2013-2014. There were four scientists who rejected the idea of man made global warming…”
“There you go Dingo! This is what I mean. Four respected scientists disagree, proving my point by the way, and the liberal media is silent about it!”
“… and 69,600 who say it’s true. Let me repeat that Senator, that’s 69,600 who say it’s real, and 4 who claim it is not. That’s in the 99.99% range. Let me ask you a question Senator. If you had one doctor who told you that your testicles needed to be amputated, and 17,000 who said that that one guy didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, and that such an operation was totally unnecessary, which side would you listen to? Using the same logic you purport to believe about the evidence for climate change, you would have to vote to have your balls chopped off, right?”
“Well that’s different Dingo…”
“Oh it most certainly is Senator. You are just one person. The adverse effects of global warming are happening today to millions of people. Thousands are dying now from the earlier hurricane seasons and mosquito born illnesses that are moving steadily farther north into heretofore colder climates; I could go on and on. And if we keep going in this direction, the 69,000 scientists who do know what the hell they are talking about, tell us things will only get catastrophically worse!”
“Look Dingo, even if what you say is true, there are scientists who say that whatever we do will not get the climate back to the way it was before.”
“If we continue with our practically non-existent efforts to date, you are certainly correct. But if we in the US take a leadership role, there are many things that can be done to at least make the future effects a lot less worse. And imagine Senator, how much progress we would have made if you and your fellow Repubs had not blocked all efforts to do anything at all about the problem for the past forty years!”
“Dingo, that’s not fair! The cost of doing anything about this problem is astronomical!”
“No it’s not Senator, and whatever the cost is, it certainly would have been a lot less if we had started working on it forty years ago when we knew we had a problem. And regardless, if we don’t all work to get a handle on this, the cost of the catastrophe that is certainly coming will dwarf whatever number you think it will cost to fix it. And by the way, did I hear you finally admit that we have a problem Senator? I did notice you could not come up with any evidence to support your earlier assertion that global warming was not happening.”
“Again Dingo, you’ve got he cart before the horse. There is plenty of evidence that this whole global warming thing is a hoax. Last year, right here in Washington we had record cold temperatures.”
“Ahhh yes. You are referring to your testimony to congress in February of 2015 where you stated that there was no such thing as global warming because you found a snowball in your back yard.”
“See, this is what I mean Dingo. Another example of the liberal media distorting the message of patriotic conservatives such as myself! That snowball came from the front steps of the capital building, not my back yard!”
“I stand corrected Senator.
“And with that, we’ll have to leave it there. Until next week, this is Dingo Rusher, for the Scoop Chamber.”