“I can’t SEEE-EEE you…”
In a recent interview with ABC10, Republican Dan Benishek was questioned about his views on global climate change. He responded, “The climate may be changing, but I don’t think man is contributing to it.”
Pushed further, he had this to say:
“I’m not sure there’s any evidence to prove that there’s man-made catastrophic global warming…there’s no significant scientific evidence,” Benishek said.“I could throw some science at you,” [ABC 10 news director Greg] Peterson said.
“Well, I am a scientist,” Benishek said. “You know, I believe in peer-reviewed science. But, I don’t see any peer-reviewed science that proves there is man-made catastrophic climate change.”
In the same interview, Benishek blamed the climate change he claims doesn’t exist on China. Derp.
Here’s the video:
It’s stuff like this that leaves me stammering. The body of evidence, largely the very peer-reviewed science that “scientist” Dan Benishek says doesn’t exist, is overwhelming. In fact, 97.1% of peer-reviewed studies show that climate change is caused by human activity. That was of 11,944 peer-reviewed articles, by the way, nearly 4,000 of which expressed an opinion on whether or not climate change is “anthropogenic”, i.e., caused by humans. The fact that Benishek hasn’t “seen” it is because he has willfully chosen to avoid it. Like a turtle pulling its head and legs into its shelf to protect itself from unwanted things, Benishek is a willfully ignorant person, choosing to avoid things that conflict with his worldview.
That’s not being a “scientist”, that’s being an ignoramus.
Author Isaac Asimov once said, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…'” This is because true scientists look for things that upend their beliefs about the world around them, surprises that lead to unexpected advances in their knowledge. It’s the stuff we aren’t expecting that lead us to new discoveries.
Dan Benishek isn’t a scientist. He’s a dangerous ideologue who can’t be swayed by facts, even if it’s the “peer-reviewed science” he claims he believes in. He’s a climate change denier and no amount of evidence will change that.
[CC photo credit: Gregory Wild-Smith | Flickr, graphic courtesy of The Consensus Project]
