Scott Pruitt's Stance On Climate Change Angers Scientists

First Posted: Mar 15, 2017 04:48 AM EDT
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In Washington, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was vocal about his insistence of climate change not being driven by humans. But it seems that the scientific community is no longer planning on keeping mum about the issue.

Scott Pruitt is only one of many Donald Trump aides who have expressed skepticism about the issue. Also, he is not the first to trigger rebukes from the scientific community. "I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see," he said to CNBC.

According to The Washington Post, the American Meteorological Society, which is considered to have expertise in climate and weather, strongly criticized Pruitt's remarks. The group's executive director, Keith Sietter, released a statement. He emphasized humans are at fault for the changing weather. He also added that the conclusion was based on the comprehensive assessment of evidence-based research.

The EPA did not respond to the request for comment on the letter, but it was not the last of it. Not long after, a group of 30 scientists from the U.S. also wrote to Pruitt with similar sentiments.

The letter to Scott Pruitt read, "Human beings are changing the Earth's climate. This key conclusion follows from the basic laws of physics." They then went on to explain that like the way there is no escaping gravity when someone is falling off a cliff, there is also no way of ecaping warming that follows when more carbon dioxide makes it into the atmosphere.

The signatories to the letter included Nobel Laureate Mario Molina, Princeton climate scientist Michael Oppenhiemer and National Center for Atmospheric Reserch member Kevin Trenberth, among others. As to why the scientific community was very upset about the current government's stance, the American Meteorological Society letter summed it up by saying, "Mischaracterizing the science is not the best starting point for a constructive dialogue."

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