MIT graduate congressman asks Obama for proof of his claim linking excess US CO2 and select droughts. Obama himself admits scientific fact that US CO2 has dropped drastically over past 2 decades and is headed even lower, knows that US is only 1.5% of planet

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1/22/13, "Rep. Massie, an MIT grad, questions Obama's global-warming claims," Washington Times, Seth McLaughlin

"Rep. Thomas Massie challenged President Obama to roll out the proof that humans have played a hand in climate change.

Mr. Massie, Kentucky Republican, said he was "disappointed" that the president in his second inaugural address blamed droughts on "human activity" and accused some of "denying the evidence of scientists."

"As somebody with a science-type background, I took offense at that," Mr. Massie said during a panel meeting billed as "Conversations With Conservatives." "I would challenge him to show us the linkage — the undeniable linkage — between droughts and the change of weather, and some kind of human activity."...

Mr. Massie...(is) a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." via Tom Nelson

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8/16/12, “AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low,” AP, Kevin Begos 

“In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful  natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
 
Many of the world’s leading climate scientists didn’t see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.
 
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for “cautious optimism” about potential ways to deal with climate change….
 
In a little-noticed technical report, the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said this month that energy related U.S. CO2 emissions for the first four months of this year fell to about 1992 levels. Energy emissions make up about 98 percent of the total. 

The Associated Press contacted environmental experts, scientists and utility companies and learned that virtually everyone believes the shift could have major long-term implications for U.S. energy policy.”…

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6/4/12, “Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts since 2006,” Vancouver Observer, Saxifrage

“Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.…

Here is the biggest shocker of all: the average American’s CO2 emissions are down to levels not seen since 1964 --over half a century ago. …Coal is the number two source of CO2 for Americans. Today the average American burns an amount similar to what they did in 1955, and even less than they did in the 1940s. …It is exactly America’s historical role of biggest and dirtiest that makes their sharp decline

in CO2 pollution so noteworthy
and potentially game changing at the global level.”...

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President Obama is aware of the stunning news of US CO2 drop and mentioned it in a speech on Aug. 28, 2012. From Pres. Obama’s speech, 8/28/12, at Iowa State: 

“We’re on track to emit fewer greenhouse gases this year than we have in nearly 20 years. You can keep those trends going.”  

On 8/28/12, The NY Times noticed Obama’s recognition of US CO2 drop.

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6/26/12, “The Incredible Shrinking Carbon Pollution Forecast – Part 2,” switchboard.nrdc.org, Dan Lashof

“While there has been some press coverage of these facts (see here and here) I continue to find that most people are surprised to learn about this progress….
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12/7/12, “Surprise Side Effect Of Shale Gas Boom: A Plunge In U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Forbes, guest article by Julie M. Carey, an energy economist with Navigant Economics
.

“In order to determine where [catastrophic man-caused] climate change fits into the priority ranking of our nation’s most important agenda items, it seems worthwhile to step back and take stock of the quiet but tremendous progress that the U.S. has already made in reducing carbon [dioxide] emissions.”…  

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6/22/12, “U.S. cuts greenhouse gases despite do-nothing Congress,” CNN, Steve Hargreaves

“Even factoring in a stronger economy, forecasters see  greenhouse gas emissions continuing to fall….

Others take the U.S. success in reducing its energy sector emissions as a sign that its fragmented, state-based, regulatory approach has worked better than Europe’s market-based cap-and-trade approach.”

• ————————————

4/21/12, “Why [CO2] Emissions Are Declining in the U.S.
But Not in Europe,” by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, newgeography.com
. 
“As we note below in a new article for Yale360, a funny thing happened: U.S. emissions started going down in 2005 and are 

expected to decline further over the next decade.”

• =============================

News of US CO2 plunge has been described as:

• “Surprising,“
• “little noticed,“
• “dramatic,“
• “stunner,“
• “most people are surprised to learn,“
• “quiet but tremendous progress,”  
•  “major long term implications,”
• “game changing,”
• “shocker,”
• “huge contrast to the forecast.”

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11/19/12, “More than 1,000 New Coal Plants Planned Worldwide,” Damian Carrington, UK Guardian

“India is planning 455 new plants compared to 363 in China.”… 

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2 citations for US as 1.5% of planet:
 

7/10/12, "Hottest ever?" American Thinker, Randall Hoven

"Note the phrase, "contiguous U.S." You know how big the contiguous US is? Its area is just 1.5% of the planet's surface. Brazil is bigger."...
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1/23/13, "RealClimate Claim: No warming because Arctic under sampled," Junk Science

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commenter
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"chris y | January 23, 2013 at 12:32 pm | 

"Of course, the Arctic is only a few percent of the Earth’s surface, and no self-respecting scientist would use temperatures in a tiny region to represent the globe. Gavin was clear on this in January, 2010, while discussing a very cold NE US winter:

“NASA: So what’s happening in the United States may be quite different than what’s happening in other areas of the world?
 
Gavin Schmidt: “Yes, especially for short time periods. Keep in mind that the contiguous United States represents just 1.5 percent of Earth’s surface.”"

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Ed. note: The bright white background inserted behind part of this post was put there by my longtime hacker. He's especially sensitive to posts about global warming. 

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