I just received a letter from Senator Mel Martinez that states that global warming is the result of changes in land use! …and that it is perfectly natural! How out of touch with reality is this guy? I mean, next he’ll be telling me that the earth was created in six days and that humans walked with dinosaurs!

Here’s the full text of the letter:

Thank you for contacting me regarding our nation’s initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, the recent warming trend of the Earth’s surface temperature can be attributed to the effect of natural occurring and human-generated gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Yet, long term temperature data maintained by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) suggests that changes in temperature might be more closely related to changes in land uses.

In addition, researchers have found that environmental awareness and initiatives are stronger when people enjoy a higher standard of living, which is in turn a result of steady economic growth.

When addressing the complex questions surrounding this issue, we need to make decisions grounded on sound science to ensure our nation’s continuous economic growth and the welfare of the most vulnerable in our communities is not put at risk. Developing a comprehensive climate change policy must include strategies to deal with the growing emissions and energy consumption of large industrial nations such as, India and China; where energy consumption is growing at more than four times the global rate.

25 years ago, China was largely energy self-sufficient. According to the International Energy Agency, demand for oil in China and India will double by 2030. We must continue to engage developing nations to ensure that scarce energy supplies are being used efficiently and that we support new technologies that promote cleaner-burning fuels.

On February 2002, President Bush unveiled a comprehensive strategy to reduce greenhouse gas intensity in our nation by 18 percent within a decade, thus preventing the release of 500 million metric tons of carbon-equivalent emissions to the atmosphere. The President’s budget for fiscal year 2006 includes nearly $3 billion for the development of environmentally sound technologies, and $200 million for climate-change-related international assistance programs.

On June 21, 2005, I joined a strong majority of my Senate colleagues in approving an amendment (S. Amdt. 817) to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (H.R. 6) introduced by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE). This amendment promotes the adoption of new technologies that reduce greenhouse gas intensity and the transfer of these technologies to developing countries. The amendment also offers credit-based financial assistance and investment protection for projects employing advanced climate technologies in our nation.

Recently, I was pleased to learn about the President’s initiative to achieve pollution reductions, energy security, and responding to climate change concerns by joining the New Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development. Another five countries have joined this initiative including Australia, Japan, South Korea, as well as developing nations such as China and India, in an effort to enhance cooperation to accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies.

Rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should the full Senate address our nation’s environmental laws. As always, I appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional comments or questions. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter.

Sincerely,

Mel Martinez
United States Senator
Next time he’s up for election (in four years?) I’m going to campaign like hell to get him out of office. It isn’t just that he’s stupid, it’s that he is actually harmful. To spread bullshit like this is absurd. He also fully supports the war in Iraq (and sending more troops/having it go on forever), lied about his campaign contributions to the tune of $500,000 dollars (corruption), is responsible for the Schiavo Memo, is against gay marriage (and appears rather homophobic in general), is against comprehensive sexual education, supports the No Child Left Behind program, wants to turn federal parks into hunting sports attractions, is against a single-payer system for healthcare, and is a general all-around trickle-down economics conservative Republican.