Pakistan Envoy Urges Congress, U.S., To Heed Climate Change

"The connection between extreme weather events and the warming climate was the focus of testimony by Pakistani ambassador Husain Haqqani and climate scientists Michael Oppenheimer, Thomas Peterson, and Michael Wehner before the House Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independence. Oppenheimer said that extreme events and impacts of climate disruption raise problematic issues of societal preparedness.

Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) opened the September 23 hearing  by bringing the impacts of recent extreme weather home.  He referenced not only the floods that have devastated Pakistan and the wildfires that raged through Russia this summer, but the flooding in Tennessee, Iowa, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.  “The more heat-trapping pollution we put into the atmosphere, the higher the chance of weather disasters,” Markey said.

Ranking member and veteran climate change denier Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) took the opportunity to offer his condolences to Ambassador Haqqani and express his outrage that Democrats were “putting politics before people and exploiting this disaster” before leaving the hearing."

Alexa Jay reports for the newly relaunched Climate Science Watch September 28, 2010.