“Every single year that we’re on Earth, you have huge tons of silt deposited by the Mississippi River, by the Amazon River, by the Nile, by every major river system — and for that matter, creek, all the way down to the smallest systems. And every time you have that soil or rock whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise. Because now you’ve got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up…All of that displaces the water which forces it to rise, does it not?” – U.S. Representative Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, May 16, 2018
There are many discussions to have about climate change, and there are many specific points on which reasonable and intelligent people can disagree. However, that ocean levels are rising is not a controversial assertion. Moreover, though there may be more than one way to consider what constitutes an alarming rate of sea level rise, as well as how we might best react, the causes are well understood.
“Soil or rock whatever it is” causing “less space in those oceans” is not one of them. To suggest that we could detect such an effect at all, much less that it would be a primary contributor to the current sea level rise, is to demonstrate significant ignorance of, most prominently, the sheer vastness of the ocean. (When did I take physical science? Eighth grade?)
Now I don’t expect my elected officials to know everything. In fact, strictly speaking, my ideal elected official doesn’t even have to be particularly smart. However, Brooks was asking a question at a House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing, not chatting at the Waffle House. A responsible professional would be better prepared.
But even that is not his greatest error.
The worst thing Mo Brooks has done here is to insufficiently consider the Alabama factor. There is a widespread predisposition to cover Alabama in an unfavorable light anyway. It is singularly unhelpful for our congressman to be spitballin’ ’bout the crick washin’ rocks into the ocean and shoot, that right there is prob’ly why it’s risin’. Departing from what you know (and despite this attempt to mitigate the damage, that appeared to be exactly what he did at the hearing) on a large stage is perilous indeed, and absolutely no charity may be assumed.
Brooks had a mulligan of this nature already. That he still doesn’t know any better does not tell the story of a savvy politician.
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