Once again, Trump skips facts on climate change

Donald Trump gave his first interview to a UK journalist on Sunday, while he was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In a wide-ranging, but generally friendly interview, the US president gave his views on climate change.

Once again, Trump did not seem to be aware of the facts before opining to British broadcaster Piers Morgan.

“The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but now they’re setting records,” he said.

Trump’s scepticism has already seen the US pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, and in previous outbursts the president has claimed global warming is a “Chinese hoax“.

In a tweet on December 29, he seemingly could not distinguish between weather, the day-to-day variations in weather; and climatology: the decadal or century-long changes in weather patterns.

He tweeted: “In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!”

Unfortunately for Trump, the evidence, to which he seemingly turns a blind eye, does not agree with his views.

With 2017 being confirmed as the second or third warmest year since 1880 by all the major meteorological agencies, and the warmest non-El Nino year on record, it is hardly surprising that sea and land ice, too, is under threat.

Sea ice in the Arctic is monitored by NOAA.

Its annual Arctic Report Card, issued in December, revealed that the region is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. The year saw a new record low for the maximum sea ice extent.

That is “the largest magnitude decline in sea ice, and the greatest sustained rate in sea ice decline in that 1,500-year record”, according to Emily Osborne, the scientist who compiled the data for the chart.

Much of the ice is now thin and young, with thicker, older ice comprising 21 percent of the total coverage, compared with 45 percent in 1985.

The pattern in the Antarctic remains more complicated with some areas seeing ice shrinkage, while others are expanding.

Trump’s dismissal of climate change science has seen some US scientists relocating to France, aiming to seek a more conducive working atmosphere.

It seems they may have to start learning the language, as the US president shows no sign of changing his views any time soon.