Trump tweets climate change skeptic in latest denial of science

President Donald Trump escalated his denial of global warming Tuesday, when he took to Twitter to quote a noted climate skeptic who claims that climate change is “fake science.”

Trump cited the comments of Patrick Moore on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program, which identified him as the co-founder of the activist group Greenpeace.

According to Greenpeace, however, Moore is not a co-founder but rather “a paid spokesman for a variety of polluting industries for more than 30 years.”

Moore, who is not a climate scientist but who has degrees in forest biology and ecology, played a significant role in Greenpeace Canada for several years early in the organization’s existence, according to Greenpeace’s website, but he did not help found it.

“He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes,” the group said in a statement in 2010.

But the incorrect facts about Moore’s past and credentials pale in comparison to the incorrect facts in the quote the President chose to tweet.

‘There is no climate crisis’

According to Moore, “there is no climate crisis.”

But according to Trump’s own government’s report from November, “the impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country.”

The National Climate Assessment, which was a collaboration of 13 federal agencies and over 300 leading scientists, found that the US economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century because of climate change.

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Related article Here's how climate change will impact the US

“There is nothing fake about the climate crisis we face today,” said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist from Texas Tech University who was one of the lead authors of the report.

“The science behind climate change has been understood since the 1850s. We cannot afford to have politically motivated people spin the issue any longer,” Hayhoe said of Moore’s comments.

‘There’s weather and climate all around the world’

Although Moore is correct that weather and climate occur all over the world, that obvious statement does not in any way counter the facts that climate is changing and that human activities are the cause.

According to a special report last year from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1.0°C (1.8°F) of global warming above pre-industrial levels (from 1850-1900).”

That report also projected that the planet could reach dangerous levels of warming by 2030, which would include more heat waves, greater sea level rise, worse droughts and rainfall extremes.

Fossil fuels still comprise the largest source of energy consumed worldwide, coal being the worst CO2-emitter of all. Carbon dioxide emissions are closely tied to climate change, and its effects are already at our doorstep.

Scroll through the gallery to see how communities around the world are being affected

Florida —

A flooded street in Miami Beach in September 2015. The flood was caused by a combination of seasonal high tides and what many believe is a rise in sea levels due to climate change. Miami Beach has already built miles of seawalls and has embarked on a five-year, $400 million stormwater pump program to keep the ocean waters from inundating the city.

Virginia —

Sea water collects in front of a home in Tangier, Virginia, in May 2017. Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay has lost two-thirds of its landmass since 1850. Now, the 1.2 square mile island is suffering from floods and erosion and is slowly sinking. A paper published in the journal Scientific Reports states that "the citizens of Tangier may become among the first climate change refugees in the continental USA."

Austria —

The Pasterze glacier is Austria's largest and it's shrinking rapidly: the sign on the trail indicates where the foot of the glacier reached in 2015, a year before this photo was taken. The European Environmental Agency predicts the volume of European glaciers will decline by between 22 percent and 89 percent by 2100, depending on the future intensity of greenhouse gases.

Greenland —

A NASA research aircraft flies over retreating glaciers on the Upper Baffin Bay coast of Greenland. Scientists say the Arctic is one of the regions hit hardest by climate change.

Switzerland —

A wooden pole that had been driven into the ice the year before now stands exposed as the Aletsch glacier melts and sinks at a rate of about 10-13 meters per year near Bettmeralp, Switzerland.

Louisiana —

In the Mississippi Delta, trees are withering away because of rising saltwater, creating "Ghost Forests."

California —

A street is flooded in Sun Valley, Southern California in February 2017. Powerful storms have swept Southern California after years of severe drought, in a "drought-to-deluge" cycle that some believe is consistent with the consequences of global warming.

South Africa —

The carcass of a dead cow lies in the Black Umfolozi River, dry from the effects of a severe drought, in Nongoma district north west from Durban, in November 2015. South Africa ranks as the 30th driest country in the world and is considered a water-scarce region. A highly variable climate causes uneven distribution of rainfall, making droughts even more extreme.

Sudan —

A gigantic cloud of dust known as "Haboob" advances over Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Moving like a thick wall, it carries sand and dust burying homes, while increasing evaporation in a region that's struggling to preserve water supplies. Experts say that without quick intervention, parts of the African country -- one of the most vulnerable in the world -- could become uninhabitable as a result of climate change.

Maldives —

Low tide reveals the extent of accelerated erosion shown by the amount of exposed beach rocks on Maafushi beach in the Maldives. This is the world's lowest-lying country, with no part lying more than six feet above sea level. The island nation's future is under threat from anticipated global sea level rise, with many of its islands already suffering from coastal erosion.

Argentina —

Los Glaciares National Park, part of the third largest ice field in the world, on November 27, 2015 in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The majority of the almost 50 large glaciers in the park have been retreating during the past 50 years due to warming temperatures, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

Kenya —

A boy from the remote Turkana tribe in Northern Kenya walks across a dried up river near Lodwar, Kenya. Millions of people across Africa are facing a critical shortage of water and food, a situation made worse by climate change.

India —

An Indian farmer in a dried up cotton field in the southern Indian state of Telangana, in April 2016. Much of India is reeling from a heat wave and severe drought conditions that have decimated crops, killed livestock and left at least 330 million people without enough water for their daily needs.

Honduras —

Strawberries lost due to a fungus that experts report is caused by climate change in La Tigra, Honduras, in September 2016. According to Germanwatch's Global Climate Risk Index, Honduras ranks among the countries most affected by climate change.

This is what climate change looks like

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And although extreme weather has always occurred, the warming climate is worsening many types of extreme weather – and even causing some of it.

US government scientists have pointed to the role that climate change has played in what have been the costliest back-to-back years in weather-related disaster costs, totaling well over $350 billion in 2017 and 2018.

“Climate change is playing an increasing role, amplifying the frequency and intensity of certain types of extreme weather that lead to billion-dollar disasters,” said Adam Smith, lead researcher at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

‘Carbon dioxide is the main building block of all life’

Carbon dioxide is not one of the six elements generally considered the chemical building blocks of life – but its components, carbon and oxygen, are (along with hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus).

According to NASA, “carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important heat-trapping (greenhouse) gas, which is released through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels.”

The carbon dioxide data (red curve) measured on Mauna Loa is the longest record of direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere.

And thanks to ever-increasing emissions of it worldwide, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher than at any point in the past 800,000 years.

Earth’s temperature is very closely coupled to carbon dioxide, and “even a very small amount of it can have a profound warming impact,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist and director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.

Moore’s sentiment that carbon dioxide is essential to life on Earth is correct, but too much of it is certainly not a good thing.

Mann had an offer for Moore: “If he wants proof, I’m sure I can raise funds for his one-way trip to Venus.”