Yesterday’s post, Got Science?, was initiated after I received an email from the Union of Concerned Scientist requesting that I take a pop quiz on global warming, and to request a sticker that says on it “Got Science?”

The recent elections will mean that there will be changes in the Chairmanships of all of the Committees in the House, and that the composition of the committees in the Senate will change, although Democrats will remain as chairs of the committees.  But the shift in the House from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority, and and an increase in the number of Republican U.S. Senators who believe global warming is hoax, and “question” the science will have a profound effect on any progress in climate change legislation.

Get ready for the Coming Storms.  Not the ones caused by global warming (in the short term), but the ones caused by views of science that are based on politics, ideology, and influence, not on evidence from scientific research.  Although the Storms that will be caused by global warming will become more intense, the coming (political) storms will return us to a period from 2001 – 2006, when global warming deniers held chairmanships of key science, technology and environmental committees.  These storms could be more frequent than the storms caused by global warming.

When I took the quiz yesterday, all of the questions were quotes taken from speeches or papers by politicians, and scientists, and we were asked to decide whether the statement was or was not science.  Here is the first question, followed by the correct answer, and the author of the statement.

This is one of Senator Inhofe's statements on global warming, but it mild compared to the U.S. Senate Environmental Committee Minority Website, which you find further down on this page!

Given the change in political climate in Washington, the climate on global warming will also change. For example, you have to wonder what some of our Senators are thinking, and how they arrived at the ideas about science that they hold. For example, here are two screen shots taken of the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Website which compares nicely the opposing views that the Majority (Democrat for now) and Minority (Republican for now) hold on global warming. The first shows a page from the Majority site, and the second shows a page from Senator Inhofe’s site, since he is the ranking minority member of this committee.

Environment and Public Works Majority Page: Note the actions that people can take to deal with global warming

Environment and Public Works Minority Page: Note the politicized statements, and general negative view of the minority committee toward global science, indeed, calling this work "Climategate"

I find it interesting that the news yesterday focused on a new Mathematics report that showed American students not faring very well when compared with other nations. The real story is the achievement levels (or lack of) of our elected officials, and their absence of any understanding of science, the nature of science, or how scientists work. When you explore the Inhofe website, you have wonder how he got through school. He surely doesn’t “Got Science?”