Trump’s Energy Secretary Denies that Humans are the Primary Cause of Climate Change

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Monday rejected almost universally accepted scientific data when he denied that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are a primary driving force of global climate change.

When CNBC “Squawk Box” host Joe Kerned asked if he believes carbon dioxide “is the primary control knob for the temperature of the Earth and for climate,” Perry said, “No.”

“Most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in,” Perry said. “I mean, the fact is, this shouldn’t be a debate about, ‘Is the climate changing, is man having an effect on it?’ Yeah, we are. The question should be, you know, just how much, and what are the policy changes that we need to make to affect that?”

Perry’s comments parallel those of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt. During a March interview, Pruitt told CNBC he doesn’t believe that carbon dioxide is “a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”

Perry defended his and others’ comments about being skeptical of climate change.

“This science — this idea that science is just absolutely settled and if you don’t believe it’s settled then you’re somehow another neanderthal, that is so inappropriate from my perspective,” he said. “I think if you’re going to be a wise, intellectually engaged person, being a skeptic about some of these issues is quite all right.”

Although he is a skeptic, it’s been proven that 97 percent of climate research supports the notion that humans are the primary cause of the reality of climate change.

“It’s extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20^th century,” the IPCC said in a 2013 report.

Climate Science Director Shaye Wolf from the Center for Biological Diversity disagreed with Perry’s comment about the oceans.

“Perry has the science exactly backward,” Wolf said. “Far from being climate change’s key cause, the world’s oceans are actually another victim of greenhouse pollution.”

Wolf added that the oceans are “dangerously acidic” from the excess amounts of carbon dioxide, which then threatens marine life.

“Our oceans absorb millions of tons of carbon dioxide a day, making them dangerously acidic,” she said. “They’ve also soaked up most of man-made global warming’s excess heat, putting stress on marine life.”

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