Joe Romm / ThinkProgress & RL Miller / Climate Hawks – 2017-09-03 20:22:36
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-names-climate-science-denier-to-run-nasa-c9a46a6f4a52/
Trump Names Climate Science Denier to Run NASA
Joe Romm / ThinkProgress
(September 3, 2017) — On a Friday night news dump, the White House announced that President Donald Trump Plans to nominate Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), a climate science denier to be administrator of NASA.
Bridenstine is a politician without any scientific credentials, unlike previous NASA chiefs, and for that reason his nomination has already been criticized by both Florida’s senators Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D), Politico reports. Rubio said, “I just think [his nomination] could be devastating for the space program.”
NASA scientists have led the way in documenting the scientific reality of climate change. But in 2013, Bridenstine not only gave a speech on the House floor filled with standard denier talking points, he actually ended his remarks with a demand that President Obama apologize for funding research into climate science.
“Mr. Speaker, global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago,” claimed Bridenstine, “Global temperature changes, when they exist, correlate with Sun output and ocean cycles.”
Although Bridenstine serves on the House science committee, those remarks were in contradiction to well-established science at the time — and indeed to NASA’s own research. Back in 2010, a NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) science brief summarizing recent research, explains, “A study by GISS climate scientists recently published in the journal Science shows that atmospheric CO2 operates as a thermostat to control the temperature of Earth.”
That science brief concluded, “There is no viable alternative to counteract global warming except through direct human effort to reduce the atmospheric CO2 level.”
Bridenstine’s denial has not diminished. Indeed, he recent tweeted a Breitbart endorsement of his proposed energy legislation.
Many experts have been worried Trump — a climate science denier who has appointed many deniers to top Administration posts — would pick a denier to run NASA.
Indeed, right after the election, Dr. Gavin Schmidt, the head of NASA GISS, tweeted:
So warming didn’t stop in 2003, and, in fact, 2016 did become the hottest year on record. Now 2017 is on track to be the hottest year on record not boosted by an El Niño.
The truth is that while “planetary warming does not care about the election,” humanity very much cares that the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to undermine climate science and climate action.
Bridenstine’s nomination deserves widespread opposition.
Climate-change deniers can even display charts clearly showing the steady increase of global temperatures and dismiss the information “alarmist.”
ACTION ALERT: Stop Trump’s Appointment of
Climate-Denying Non-Scientist to Head NASA
RL Miller / Climate Hawks
WASHINGTON (September 2, 2017) — Donald Trump just nominated an anti-science climate denier to run NASA.
Jim Bridenstine is not a scientist. He’s a member of Congress with no experience in space. And he has an ugly history of anti-science rants. On the House floor in 2013, Bridenstine demanded President Obama apologize for dedicating federal resources to studying climate change, citing junk science and outright lies to justify his assertion that climate change isn’t real (It was warm once, before cars even existed!)
Bridenstine’s nomination is already being criticized by the two senators from Florida, Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, because NASA should be run by a scientist. Or, at the very least, someone who respects and listens to scientific fact rather than a career politician.
NASA’s earth sciences division is at the forefront of climate change research. NASA’s satellites provide critical data on matters such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The Trump regime has already cut back NASA’s climate research. But Bridenstine would do much more damage to NASA and federal climate research.
NASA performs critical climate science research — its satellites have been tracking hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Trump has nominated Jim Bridenstine, a member of Congress from Oklahoma — not a scientist — to run NASA. But Bridenstine is a climate denier. In 2013 he demanded that President Obama apologize for spending NASA money on global warming.
NASA needs to be kept out of politics. Florida’s two senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, have already voiced concern about Bridenstine’s political baggage.
And, equally important, NASA needs to be run by someone who respects science. Not climate denier Jim Bridenstine.
#STOPBRIDENSTINE: DEMAND THAT SENATORS
OPPOSE CLIMATE DENIER TO RUN NASA
