According to Donald Trump (a politician and not a scientist), climate change could “change back again,” and he believes that climate scientists are politically motivated.
As a Ph.D. scientist myself, I can assure the public that there are no potential “political motivations”– scientists usually have a high sense of ethics and published research is peer-reviewed and replicated several times before being accepted. Although there has been many classic science hoaxes , I can assure you that the science behind climate change passes scrutiny.
Trumps Interview on 60 Minutes
In an interview with CBC programme 60 Minutes that aired Sunday night, the US President said that he no longer believes climate change is a hoax, as he tweeted in 2012.
“I think something’s happening. Something’s changing and it’ll change back again,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a hoax. I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade. I will say this: I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs.”
Trump has said he will withdraw the US from the Paris agreement, an international pact to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, cars and industry. His administration is seeking to roll back all the country’s significant climate efforts.
Climate scientists say hurricanes are likely to grow stronger in warming oceans.
Asked about that, Trump said “you’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda.”
As for melting ice caps and rising seas, Trump said “you don’t know whether or not that would have happened with or without man.”
Much of Trump’s cabinet has questioned the scientific consensus that humans are causing higher temperatures that pose immediate and growing threats.
Senator Marco Rubio acknowledged temperature rises and swelling seas but argued inaccurately that “many scientists would debate the percentage of what is attributable to man versus normal fluctuations.”
[via The Guardian]
