Trump official: 'We don't know' what causes climate change because 'it rained yesterday'

Sonny Perdue, Trump’s agriculture secretary, falsely described climate change as merely a change in “weather patterns” — minimizing the serious threat of the climate crisis, and continuing the Trump administration’s war on science and evidence.

In an interview released Tuesday, Perdue told CNN that “we don’t know” the cause of climate change, a statement completely at odds with scientific reality.

“Many scientists believe that it’s human caused, other scientists believe it’s not,” Perdue claimed.

When CNN reporter Vanessa Yurkevich pressed Perdue to explain what does cause climate change if not humans, Perdue replied with complete nonsense.

“You know, I think it’s weather patterns, frankly. And you know, and they change, as I said. It rained yesterday, it’s a nice pretty day today. So the climate does change in short increments and in long increments,” Perdue said.

That’s not even close to accurate. Climate change isn’t about the weather changing from day to day; it’s about changes in average temperatures over long periods of time. Scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that carbon dioxide emissions created by humans have caused a precipitous rise in global temperatures, and that over time this rise in temperatures will raise sea levels, worsen extreme weather events, and potentially devastate human civilization.

Perdue already has a record of denying climate science. Just on Monday, it was reported that the Department of Agriculture under Perdue has been working to muzzle and minimize scientific reports warning about the effect of climate change.

Perdue’s inaccurate claims are also in line with other attacks on science from the Trump administration.

Trump himself has claimed that climate change is merely a hoax from the Chinese government. His administration has promoted officials like William Happer, who compared climate scientists to Adolf Hitler and ISIS.

The Trump administration has been trying to expunge evidence of how destructive climate change is, a reversal from the Obama administration.

For the Trump administration, scientific facts are a threat that must be suppressed and minimized. That policy comes from Trump at the top and rolls down to underlings like Perdue.

While Trump and his cohorts are ignoring reality, the climate continues to change, and millions of lives are and will be affected. Climate change has been described by the U.S. military as one of the biggest threats to human life.

It’s not just “weather patterns” — no matter what Perdue says.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.