By Elizabeth Vlock
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rebuked Senator Jame Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) categorization of global warming as a “myth,” calling Inhofe’s beliefs on the subject “dead wrong” in prepared remarks on the Senate floor Monday.
During a summer when the U.S. is plagued by extreme heat, wild fires, and droughts Sanders decried Inhofe’s claims that a consensus on the existence global warming is not present in the scientific community as well as Inhofe’s argument that the planet is, in fact, cooling.
“Americans are seeing global warming with their own eyes,” Sanders said, citing the fact that there are 2.1 million acres in the western U.S. burnt by wildfires, two-thirds of the U.S. seeing extreme droughts, and the northeast being plagued by extreme storms and flooding. Sanders pointed to all of those factors as indisputable evidence that global warming is not a hoax.
With NASA concluding that in the past century nine out of ten of the hottest years on record have occurred since 2000, Sanders cited eighteen scientific societies who have concluded that “climate change is occurring and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.” Sanders also referenced a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that concluded that since January 1, 2011 cities and regions within the United States have experienced 40,000 record high temperatures.
Sanders cautioned against the ecological ramifications that will occur due to Congress’ refusal to act to alter the American energy industry, stating “it is time for Congress to get serious about global warming, and to work to transform our energy system. That starts by making sure that in this, the so-called greatest deliberative body we deliberate with facts not myths.”
