I was going to snark here, but honestly I've got nothin'. I can't think of anything dumber than what Rick Perry said to CNBC yesterday.
“Do you believe CO2 is the primary control knob for the temperature of the Earth and for climate?” asked CNBC’s Joe Kernen.
“No, most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in,” replied the secretary. He then began to complain about the backlash against “being a skeptic.”
"This environment that we live in" is... the environment we create. It's not some accident or happenstance.
It's not exactly clear if Perry understands the basic atmospheric process and water cycle through which water evaporates into gas and eventually clouds before falling back down to the ground as water to begin anew. Carbon pollution traps heat and speeds evaporation.
Tremendous excess heat (that humans are producing) stored in the oceans can contribute extreme rainfall events or extreme droughts, and it's only going to get worse.
Humans are turning the "primary control knob," and we're drunk.
