Joe Barton: lessons for scientists

US Congressman Joe Barton, in an interview on C-SPAN, patiently explained that most scientists don’t do science the way he does. Here are two of Barton’s many notable observations. Hear them and more in the entire interview (the numbers indicate when in the interview you can hear him give these lessons):

3:12: If we have ice thinning up on the polar cap, I would say that’s more natural variation than it is man-made CO2. For one thing there are not many people up around the North Pole, so it’s pretty hard to see how we could be causing it.

22:53: CO2 is odorless, colorless, tasteless – it’s not a threat to human health in terms of being exposed to it. We create it as we talk back and forth. So, and if you go beyond that, on a net basis, there’s ample evidence that warming generically — however it is caused — is a net benefit to mankind.