Energy Secretary Chris Wright seeks to set the record straight about the science. Kimberley A. Strassel- Something important happened this week, if the fuming response is anything to go by.
The country is witnessing the rise—finally—of a scientifically armed and debate-ready climate right. The “consensus” gatekeepers don’t like it one bit.
The Energy Department issued a report whose title might glaze eyes: “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.”...
The report—written by five respected scientists, including the former chief scientific officer in the Obama Energy Department—doesn’t deny the climate is changing.
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright, in an opening letter, notes: “Climate change is real, and it deserves attention.”
The report instead provides a holistic picture of the messy reality of climate research—its many areas of uncertainty, disputes and unknowns...
Here are a few noncontroversial findings from the report—based on peer-reviewed literature from recent years—that might surprise Times readers.
- Global warming has risks, but also benefits, including greater agricultural productivity.
- We still don’t know the extent to which human activity plays a role in warming, given natural variability, data limitations, uncertain models and fluctuations in solar activity.
- Models predicting what is to come remain all over the map.
- U.S. historical data doesn’t support claims of increased frequency or intensity of extreme weather.
- Climate change is likely to have little effect on economic growth.
- U.S. climate policies, even drastic ones, will have negligible effect on global temperatures.
This is the honest, modest assessment of the state of climate science today...
