SACRAMENTO, Fla., Sept. 12 (UPI) — California Gov. Jerry Brown sent Ben Carson a copy of the latest U.N. IPCC report after the visiting Republican presidential hopeful denied climate science.
Carson held a press conference Tuesday after speaking to the Commonwealth Club public affairs forum in San Francisco, where he rejected scientific consensus that human activity causes climate change.
On Thursday, Brown mailed Carson a letter and a flash drive containing the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Synthesis Report, which summarizes global findings on the human impact on climate change.
The letter summarized the contents of the flash drive and urged Carson to use his “considerable intelligence to review this material,” adding, “Climate change is much bigger than partisan politics.”
Brown was a vociferous critic of those who deny the reality of anthropogenic climate change when he visited the Vatican in July. When asked about Brown’s letter, Carsontold the San Francisco Chronicle there is a lack of “overwhelming” proof humans are causing the problem.
“Gimme a break,” he said.
A spokesperson for Brown’s office said a copy of the letter and a link to the report had also been sent to Carson by email.
Brown sent an open letter on Aug. 5 to candidates asking for their plans to stymie climate change, right before the first primary debate of the campaign.
Brown is feeling the effect of a changing climate in his own state. A March study by Stanford University that evaluated 120 years of climate data determined California’s drought has been caused by climate change. The study found that warm conditions brought on by greenhouse gas emissions reduce snowfall, increase snowmelt and raise water loss from soils and plants.
According to the researchers, their report did not provide specific suggestions for ameliorating the situation but showed strong evidence linking global warming to California’s drought.
