A Republican Kentucky state lawmaker and owner of a coal company last week used dubious claims about Mars to question the reality of climate change.
“I don’t want get into the debate about climate change,” state Sen. Brandon Smith said, according to Louisville NPR affiliate WFPL. “But I’ll simply point out that I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on Mars is exactly as it is here. Nobody will dispute that. Yet there are no coal mines on Mars. There’s no factories on Mars that I’m aware of.”
However, Smith’s claim is definitely disputable.
The average temperature on Mars is -81 degrees Fahrenheit, while the average temperature on Earth is 57 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA. And the approximate average low temperature on Mars is -287 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average high temperature is 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
Smith made these remarks during the Kentucky legislature’s discussion of the EPA’s new carbon regulations.
During the discussion, Democratic Rep. Kevin Sinnette assured everyone that the Earth will be fine since dinosaurs went extinct.
“The dinosaurs died, and we don’t know why, but the world adjusted. And to say that this is what’s going to cause detriment to people, I just don’t think it’s out there,” he said, according to WFPL.
Watch a video of Smith’s remarks via Raw Story:
[H/t Raw Story]
