Guest post by David Middleton

Mr. Trump, if you read this post, please ignore these “scientists”…

To President-elect Trump We, the undersigned, urge you to take immediate and sustained action against human-caused climate change. We write as concerned individuals, united in recognizing that the science is unequivocal and America must respond. Climate change threatens… [blah, blah, blah] […] 1. Make America a clean energy leader. The vast majority of Americans – whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent – support renewable energy research and deployment5. Embrace the enormous economic opportunities of transitioning to an energy-efficient, low-carbon society6,7. Use part of your $1 trillion commitment to infrastructure development to expand democratized clean energy…

What the frack is “democratized” energy?

2. Reduce carbon pollution and America’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Apart from black soot, there’s no such thing as “carbon pollution.” Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, etc. are carbon compounds. Just in case anyone is unclear on the concept…

What is a Compound? A compound is a substance made from two or more elements that have reacted chemically with each other. Remember this definition as you might need it in the exam! A compound is a completely new material that will often have totally different properties from the elements that made it. For example The element sodium is a highly reactive metal. The element chlorine is a yellow-green poisonous gas (non-metal). When the two react together they form a compound called sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is common salt, which you eat with food. You would not want to eat the elements! […]

M’kay?

The EPA, despite its bogus endangerment finding, doesn’t classify carbon or carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

3. Enhance America’s climate preparedness and resilience. In the past 5 years alone, storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires caused over $250 billion in damages10. As climate change continues to increase the frequency and severity of these extreme events…

Enhancing “climate preparedness and resilience” is always a good idea… However, there is no evidence, none whatsoever, that climate change has, is or will “increase the frequency and severity of these extreme events.” Models aren’t evidence. Models with a 95% failure rate are, at best, a failed hypothesis.

4. Publicly acknowledge that climate change is a real, human-caused, and urgent threat. If not, you will become the only government leader in the world to deny climate science11. Your position will be at odds with virtually all climate scientists, most economists, military experts, fossil fuel companies and other business leaders, and the two-thirds of Americans worried about this issue1,2,12-15.

Note to “scientists”… We didn’t vote for Donald Trump because he was a lemming.

Climate change is real, always has been, always will be. Mankind’s activities do play an un-determinable role in it and there is no evidence that it is an “urgent threat.” There’s scant evidence that climate change poses a net threat to humanity… much less the planet.

5. Protect scientific integrity in policymaking. During your campaign, you said that your “administration will ensure that there will be [scientific] transparency and accountability without political bias16.” […]

Which he’s already doing… EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Cathy McMorris-Rogers, etc.

6. Uphold America’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. Reneging from this treaty… Unscientific Unamerican

“America” did not make a “commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement” and it’s not a treaty. The soon-to-be-ex-President made a commitment and then refused to submit his personal commitment to the Senate for ratification as a treaty.

Now that we have addressed their six points, let’s take a look at some selected signatories of this open letter, to better understand their point of view…

Susan Joy Hassol, Director, Climate *Communication*

Good for her!

Richard Heede, Co-Founder & Director, *Climate Accountability* Institute

Richard Heede is the Principal of Climate Mitigation Services, a consultancy focused on climate stewardship from emissions inventories to profitable action. Climate Mitigation Services conducts greenhouse gas inventories, develops protocols, defines emissions boundaries, and identifies technologies and strategies to profitably reduce emissions. Client sectors include municipalities, colleges and universities, corporations, international NGOs, architects, and homeowners.

Very sciency!!!

Dr. Edward Maibach, MPH, PhD, Professor, Department of Communication; Director, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University

Dr. Maibach holds a BA in social psychology from University of California at San Diego (1980), an MPH in health promotion from San Diego State University (1983), and a PhD in communication research from Stanford University (1990).

The author if the 52% consensus, if I remember correctly.

Dr. Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Earth System Science Center, Pennsylvania State University

Well, there’s at least one real scientist among the signatories… (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). To anyone who missed the sarcasm… There are a lot of real scientists among the signatories.

It appears that about 333 of the 800 “scientists” are students…

Hannah M. Teicher, M.Arch., PhD Student, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jennifer Thomas, PhD Student, Physical Oceanography, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University

Annelise Thompson, PhD Student (artificial photosynthesis), Department of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology

Daniel Traficonte, PhD Student, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Galen Treuer, PhD Student, Environmental Science and Policy, University of Miami

Rebecca Trinh, PhD Student, Biological Oceanography, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Anna Trugman, PhD Student in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

Cascade Tuholske, PhD Student, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara

Brendan D. Turley, PhD Student, School of the Earth, Ocean, & Environment, University of South Carolina

Alexander J. Turner, PhD Student in Atmospheric Chemistry, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

John J. Turner V, PhD Student in Renewable Energy, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of New Hampshire

Samantha Tushaus, Assistant Researcher, Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ashlee Tziganuk, PhD Student in Urban Planning, Arizona State University

Natalie Umling, PhD Student in Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina

Sital Uprety, PhD Student in Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Sarah Vitale, PhD Student in Geological Sciences, University of Connecticut

Dr. Britta Voss, PhD in Aquatic Geochemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Charlotte Wagner, PhD student, Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Nicholas Waldo, PhD Student in Environmental Engineering, University of Washington

Rich Walker, PhD Student, Program in Ecology and Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Wyoming

Jessica Wang, PhD student, Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine

Jonathan Wang, PhD Student, Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University

Daniel Watkins, PhD Student, Atmospheric Science, Oregon State University

Lance Watkins, PhD Student and Center Lead, NASA DEVELOP National Program, School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning, Arizona State University

Katelyn Watson, PhD Student in Geoscience, Boise State University

Caroline Hagan Webb, PhD Student in Hydrology and Geophysics, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis

Nick Weber, PhD Student, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington

Jennifer Wei, PhD Student, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University

Thomas Weiss, PhD Student in Paleoclimatology, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Ethan Welty, PhD Student, Environmental Studies Program and Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder

Meagan E. Wengrove, PhD Student in Coastal Processes, Department of Ocean Engineering, University of New Hampshire

Katherine Wentz, PhD Student, Environmental Studies Program and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder

Scott Wieman, PhD Student, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

Catherine Wilka, PhD Student in Climate Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Elise B. Wilkes, PhD Student, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

Emily Williams, MA/PhD Student in Geography, University of California Santa Barbara

Andrew A. Wong, PhD Student, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Anna Wuttig, PhD Student in Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lilia Xie, PhD Student in Inorganic Chemistry (materials for energy conversion), Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Robert M. Yantosca, Senior Software Engineer, Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group, Harvard University

Walter Yerk, PhD Student, Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University

Suzanne Young, PhD Student, Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida

Karen Yu, PhD Student in Atmospheric Science, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Emily Zakem, PhD Student, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

José I. Zenteno, PhD Student of Environmental Science and Management, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara

Xuemei Zhai, PhD Student in Biological Oceanography, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Natalie Zielinski, PhD Student in Oceanography, Texas A&M University

Marika Ziesack, PhD Student, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

Katelyn Zigner, PhD Student, Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara

If anyone is counting, I didn’t list all of them. A word count of “student” returned 333 samples.

Featured Image Borrowed From Here

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