Now Just 0.01 Percent of Climate Scientists Reject Global Warming

Here's a chart about science. It sums up what is arguably still the most important finding of thousands of scientific papers published on climate change over the last two years: scientists overwhelmingly believe that global warming is manmade.

See that black sliver? That represents the percentage of scientists who have concluded that climate change is not manmade, or is not happening at all, over the last two years. That is approximately 0.01 percent of working climate scientists. The data comes from a new survey from National Science Board member James Lawrence Powell, the man who previously discovered that 97 percent of peer-reviewed papers support the theory that climate change is caused by human activity.

Now let us observe the percentage of Republican congressmen that have concluded that climate change is not manmade:

That black sliver has become an ocean. 130 Republican members of the House of Representatives, or 56 percent of the caucus, have publicly claimed that climate change is not real. Meanwhile, 30 Republican senators, or 65 percent, also disavow climate change. That's 160 out of 278 elected Republicans who rebuke climate change science—for a total of 58 percent, versus 0.01 percent of scientists. It shouldn't come as a surprise, really, given Congress' anti-science hotstreak, but the gulf is shockingly stark nonetheless.

Here, from a 2013 Center for American Progress survey, are some more fun findings:

-90 percent of the Republican leadership in both House and Senate deny climate change

-17 out of 22 Republican members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, or 77 percent, are climate deniers

-22 out of 30 Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, or 73 percent deny the reality of climate change

-100 percent of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans have said climate change is not happening or that humans do not cause it

To be fair, there are a few Democrats who also disavow climate science, but they are harder to pin down as it typically goes against the party line. I just tallied Republicans because there was more available information—liberal groups track this stuff like bloodhounds, and rightfully so. The disparity between the meticulously verified reality described by scientists and the delusional fantasyland of our nation's top governors is preposterous. It's impossible to plan for the future when your policymakers have such a poor grip on reality.