As Midwest Burns, Scientists Testify On Hill: Inhofe "The Global Warming Movement Has Collapsed"

Drought, wildfires, hurricanes and heatwaves are becoming normal in America because of climate change, Congress was told on Wednesday in the first hearing on climate science in more than two years.

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By Wednesday, however, it was universally acknowledged there was no prospect of moving climate change legislation through Congress. There was also little chance the scientists’ presentations would persuade the most prominent Republican climate contrarian, Senator Jim Inhofe, who told the committee: “The global warming movement has completely collapsed.” Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the committee, also noted she had deliberately avoid calling any administration officials or government scientists.

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Field, in his testimony, warned that the devastating extremes of the last year could soon become routine. “The U.S. experienced 14 billion-dollar disasters in 2011, a record that surpasses the previous maximum of nine,” he said. “The 2011 disasters included a blizzard, tornadoes, floods, severe weather, a hurricane, a tropical storm, drought and heatwaves, and wildfires. In 2012, we have already experienced horrifying wildfires, a powerful windstorm that hit Washington D.C., heat waves in much of the country, and a massive drought.”

He went on to make a point of warning Texans that the future of farming and ranching could be put in jeopardy because of climate change. The committee also heard from James McCarthy, a Harvard oceanographer and IPCC author, who warned that sea-level rise was occurring about three times faster than scientists believed even a decade ago.

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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/congress-climate-change/