Climate change is not a belief: it is a measurable fact. Just about every major international scientific academy endorses it (ionalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf) including the National Academy of Sciences here.
The
Arctic has been experiencing record-setting surface air temperature for
three years in a row. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration noted in its Arctic Report Card (released on December 8,
2016) an unprecedented warming of air temperature leading to a
record-breaking delay in the fall sea ice freeze.
In
the past quarter-century the region has lost nearly two-thirds of its
volume of sea ice. The peer-reviewed report brings together the work of
61 scientists from 11 nations, and is key to tracking changes in the
Arctic.
In the past
quarter-century, the region has lost nearly two-thirds of the volume of
sea ice, as well as snow cover. The increased exposure of water to
sunlight leads to much greater absorption of heat, leading to more
warming which in turn melts more ice and snow (Martin Jeffries, James
Overland and Don Perovich, Physics Today, October 2013).
The melting arctic ice, the plight of polar bears, the pollution registered even in Arctic snow -- none of it is enough as President Trump signs an executive order on Tuesday (March 28, 2017) rolling back the prior administration's restrictions on coal. He said it would bring jobs back to the coal-mining communities. It may not be as easy as he thinks. Not only is coal the most polluting of fossil fuels, it is not as easy to use as natural gas of which there is an abundance at present.
Aside from climate-change deniers, there are other equally 'well-informed' cabinet-level officials: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin informed us in a speech on Monday the day before the new executive order that it would be a 100 years before artificial intelligence takes away human jobs. Gasps of disbelief from Silicon Valley!
Heaven help us ...
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