Analysis: James Hansen’s 1988 testimony was ‘the end of any pretense in reality with climate science’

https://realclimatescience.com/2018/06/thirty-years-since-global-warming-began/

On June 23, 1988 NASA’s James Hansen told Congress that global warming had begun.

Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate – The New York Times

One June 22, the night before his testimony, Hansen and Senator Tim Wirth sabotaged the air conditioner in the meeting room.

we called the Weather Bureau and found out what historically was the hottest day of the summer. Well, it was June 6 or June 9 or whatever it was, so we scheduled the hearing that day, and bingo: It was the hottest day on record in Washington, or close to it. It was stiflingly hot that summer. [At] the same time you had this drought all across the country, so the linkage between the Hansen hearing and the drought became very intense.

… What we did it was went in the night before and opened all the windows, I will admit, right? So that the air conditioning wasn’t working inside the room and so when the, when the hearing occurred there was not only bliss, which is television cameras in double figures, but it was really hot. …  So Hansen’s giving this testimony, you’ve got these television cameras back there heating up the room, and the air conditioning in the room didn’t appear to work. So it was sort of a perfect collection of events that happened that day, with the wonderful Jim Hansen, who was wiping his brow at the witness table and giving this remarkable testimony.

Interviews – Timothy Wirth | Hot Politics | FRONTLINE | PBS

That day was by far the hottest June 22 on record in the US, with almost the entire country over 90 degrees and much of the country over 100 degrees.

That summer was the last really hot summer in the US, but in matters of climate, facts are irrelevant. The political left found an excuse to blame humans and seize power, and that was the end of any pretense in reality with climate science.

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