Tag Archives: Harrison Schmitt

Climate change hearing on Capitol Hill highlights politics and hypocrisy

Former Vice President Al Gore, right, and former Virginia Sen. John Warner testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 24, 2009, before the House Energy and Environment subcommittee.  (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Former Vice President Al Gore, right, and former Virginia Sen. John Warner testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 24, 2009, before the House Energy and Environment subcommittee.

As legislators in Washington D.C. debated a climate change bill that would levy new taxes on businesses and potentially cost consumers, political theatre was in full view Friday at the House of Representatives.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings all last week on the legislation, culminating with the appearance of former Vice President Al Gore and former Speaker of the House and potential 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

Democrats who support the measure and the ‘cap and trade tax’ it would bring, brought forth the self-appointed head of the global warming movement Al Gore.  Mr. Gore of course was full of his usual dire predictions of the Earth’s pending doom from carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere unless immediate action is taken.  He likened those who doubted the theory to those who don’t believe man landed on the moon saying, “There are people who still believe that the moon landing was staged on a movie lot in Arizona.”

Perhaps Mr. Gore wasn’t aware but even some of those that have been to the moon and walked on its surface don’t believe all the hype about global warming.  It was just recently that a real moonwalker announced his doubts about the theory as well.  Dr. Harrison Schmitt, an Apollo 17 astronaut, moonwalker, and PhD holding geologist said, “Contrary to categorical statements by many politicians and unfortunately some scientists, including some colleagues of mine, the science of climate change and its causes is not settled – at least not to this geologist.”

There is much more to this story – including battles between the committee and Newt Gingrich when he appeared.  Learn more about how politics have taken over the debate on manmade climate change in the full story on Examiner.com.

For all the details, read the rest of this story on our Denver Weather Examiner page. Examiner.com - Get inside Denver weather

Astronaut Harrison Schmitt: Climate change alarmists ‘intentionally mislead’

Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt as a trained geologist was the first scientist-astronaut and walked on the moon with the Apollo 17 lunar mission.
Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt as a trained geologist was the first scientist-astronaut and walked on the moon with the Apollo 17 lunar mission.

Last month Apollo 17 astronaut and moonwalker Harrison Schmitt added his voice to the growing chorus of scientists speaking out against the anthropogenic [manmade] global warming (AGW) theory.  In strongly worded comments he said the theory was a ‘political tool.’  Now, in a speech at the International Conference on Climate Change he outlined his argument in great detail saying, “the science of climate change and its causes is not settled.”

Schmitt recalled as a child in Silver City, New Mexico helping his father, also a geologist, take rain measurements.  Those early experiments spurred the former astronaut’s interest in earth sciences at an early age.  He recalled how later in life, while on the surface of the moon, he made weather forecasts for the southern hemisphere of the earth. 
 
In wide ranging commentary, Dr. Schmitt made a point by point argument against many of the things that global warming advocates point to in support of the theory.  In a similar vein to his comments last month, he continued to admonish scientists and politicians that have politicized the issue and said those that disagree do have a battle ahead of them. 

Get the rest of this story on Examiner.com.

For all the details, read the rest of this story on our Denver Weather Examiner page. Examiner.com - Get inside Denver weather