Climate-denying head of House science committee writes about “benefits” of global warming

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), noted climate change denialist, is the Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, which has gone straight to hell in a handbasket under Republican rule (apparently a precursor to the rest of the government). The one thing he’s consistent on is his staunch opposition to anything climate-science-related, because the petroleum lobby’s dollars don’t allow him to accept basic science and admit that global warming exists.

Unless it does exist and it’s actually good for us, apparently. IFLScience dissects an article he wrote for a Heritage Foundation mouthpiece:

The Republican lawmaker has received over $700,000 in contributions from the oil and gas industry, so his stance is not surprising. And neither is the publication. The editorial was published on the Daily Signal, a little-known blog funded by the big-oil-backed Heritage Foundation.

“The benefits of a changing climate are often ignored and under-researched,” Smith writes. “Our climate is too complex and the consequences of misguided policies too harsh to discount the positive effects of carbon enrichment.”

“Carbon enrichment”. That’s what deniers call pumping billions of tons of pollution into the atmosphere now? And never mind how Smith is the last person on Earth who should be talking about “misguided policies”.

He goes on to add that a higher concentration of carbon dioxide could aid photosynthesis and increase plant growth. This, he said, could correlate with a “greater volume of food production and better quality food.”

I see his logic: plants breathe CO₂, therefore more CO₂ = happier plants. Plants also need water; maybe we should dunk them into a lake to “increase plant growth”. And they like warmth and light, too, so let’s put them in a furnace – doesn’t get brighter and warmer than that. I predict we’ll have bumper crops every year. World hunger = solved.

Smith continues: “Also, as the Earth warms, WE are seeing beneficial changes to the earth’s geography. For instance, Arctic sea ice is decreasing. This development will create new commercial shipping lanes that provide faster, more convenient, and less costly routes between ports in Asia, Europe, and eastern North America.”

Except the reality is that the impassably solid sheet of ice that previously blocked Arctic routes is now turning into impassably hazardous chunks of ice that drift further south every year as the ocean warms up. Sending more ships up north, at least for the time being, is just a recipe for creating more Titanics.

The IFLScience piece goes to some length detailing how and why Smith is wrong on every count, so check it out.

Rep. Lamar Smith: For global warming after he was against it(s existence).