GETTING SERIOUS

Jimmy Kimmel Tears Into Sarah Palin’s ‘Offensive and Dangerous’ Climate Change Denial

Sarah Palin has been speaking out against climate change and Jimmy Kimmel has had it.

Sarah Palin has a new hobby. Over the past several weeks, the former Alaska governor turned reality TV star has been promoting a documentary called Climate Hustle that claims scientific consensus about a warming planet is nothing but a hoax.

On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel dedicated an extended portion of his late-night show to addressing Palin’s latest crusade and fired back with a video in which real climate scientists explain exactly what makes the film and its message so destructive.

“It’s perpetuated and repeated so often that too many people believe that, ‘Oh, well, if 97 percent of all scientists believe that man’s activities are creating changes in the weather, who am I to question that?’” Palin said in a recent interview. “Exactly. Who are you to question that?” Kimmel responded.

“I have a theory,” the host continued. “I think maybe Sarah Palin wants global warming. It’s cold in Alaska. It would be welcome up there. But, the idea that she knows more than 97 percent of scientists is offensive and dangerous. No matter what Sarah Palin and these geniuses she surrounds herself with try to tell you, climate change is not a liberal versus conservative thing.”

While “in general,” Democrats believe in climate change and Republicans do not, Kimmel said, “This isn’t a matter of political opinion. It’s a matter of scientific opinion. In this case, overwhelming scientific opinion.”

“We’ve had 15 of the 16 hottest years ever since 2001. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact,” he added to applause from his audience. “For some reason whether or not humans are contributing to this has become a left versus right issue. The politicians debate it. Our scientists don’t. A huge majority of climate scientists say climate change is happening. They say we’re causing it and we need to do something about it before it has a terrible effect on all of us. There’s no debate about the greenhouse effect, just like there’s no debate about gravity. It someone throws a piano off the roof, I don’t care what Sarah Palin tells you, get out of the way. It’s coming down on your head.”

And Kimmel blamed Republicans in Congress for perpetuating the idea that climate change is some sort of “left-wing conspiracy,” adding that they “apparently know more about science than our scientists, or they pretend to because they get money to make sure they can keep doing the destructive things that they do.”

“Either you believe in science or you don’t,” Kimmel said, predicting significant blowback from all the “wacko” websites out there.

Instead of taking his word for it, Kimmel asked viewers to watch a video in which a parade of climate scientists promised that they are not “fucking with you” when it comes to catastrophic climate change.

It’s rare that Kimmel gets serious about anything. But when he does, watch out.

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Matt WilsteinSenior Editor

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