Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 10 augusT 2017

U.S. scientists contradict Trump’s climate claims

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and said.
SETH BORENSTEIN The assessment has gener-
Associated Press ally been released every
WASHINGTON (AP) — As four years under a fed-
President Donald Trump eral initiative mandated
touts new oil pipelines by Congress in 1990. The
and pledges to revive the current draft for 2018, tar-
nation’s struggling coal geted for release later this
mines, federal scientists are year, largely builds on the
warning that burning fos- conclusions of the 2014 as-
sil fuels is already driving a sessment released under
steep increase in the Unit- the Obama administration.
ed States of heat waves, The assessment said global
droughts and floods. temperatures will continue
It is the latest example of to rise without steep reduc-
collisions between Trump’s tions in the burning of fossil
environmental policies and fuels, with increasingly dire
the facts presented by his effects on the lives of every
government’s experts. American.
Contradicting Trump’s Worldwide, 15 of the last 16
claims that climate years have been the warm-
change is a “hoax,” the est years on record. Today,
draft report representing FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2016, file photo, vintage cars line a property after the Loma fire burned the National Oceanic and
the consensus of 13 fed- through Loma Chiquita Road near Morgan Hill, Calif. Atmospheric Administra-
eral agencies concludes Associated Press tion said 2017 is on track to
that the evidence global be the second warmest for
warming is being driven the United States.
by human activities is “un- Faced with reams of evi- failing to curb carbon pol- Research Program, which Scientists from all over the
ambiguous.” That directly dence compiled by fed- lution now will exacerbate will edit and produce the world have documented
undercuts statements by eral scientists that conflicts negative consequences final climate report, did not warming in the air and wa-
Trump and his Cabinet with their policy positions, in the future. That assess- respond to phone calls and ter, melting glaciers, dis-
casting doubt on whether Trump and his advisers fre- ment calls into question the emails seeking comment appearing snow, shrinking
the warming observed quently cite the work of wisdom of Trump’s environ- on Tuesday. sea ice and rising sea level.
around the globe is being industry-funded think tanks. mental and energy poli- White House press secre- The report said the United
primarily driven by man- Environmental Protection cies, which seek to boost tary Sarah Sanders criti- States will see tempera-
made carbon pollution. Agency chief Scott Pruitt U.S. production and con- cized the Times for report- ture increases of at least
“There are no alternative and Energy Secretary Rick sumption of fossil fuels even ing on the draft document 2.5 degrees (1.4 degrees
explanations, and no natu- Perry have championed as the world’s other lead- “without first verifying its Celsius) over the next few
ral cycles are found in the the formation of a “red- ing economies promote contents with the White decades, even with signifi-
observational record that team, blue-team” exercise cleaner sources of energy. House or any of the federal cant cuts to carbon pollu-
can explain the observed where climate-change An early version of the re- agencies directly involved tion.
changes in climate,” says skeptics would publicly de- port, a copy of which was with climate and environ- Even if humans stop spew-
the report, citing thousands bate mainstream climate obtained by The Associ- mental policy.” ing heat-trapping gases
of peer-reviewed studies. scientists. ated Press, was distributed She then declined to com- today, the world will warm
“Evidence for a changing Submitted as part of the widely in December for re- ment on the report. another half a degree (0.3
climate abounds, from the upcoming National Cli- view by leading scientists. “The White House will with- degrees Celsius), the re-
top of the atmosphere to mate Assessment, the draft The New York Times pub- hold comment on any draft port said, citing high con-
the depths of the oceans.” federal report sends the lished a copy Monday. report before its scheduled fidence in those calcula-
overriding message that The U.S. Global Change release date,” Sanders tions. q