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U.S. Ambassador to Canada believes "both sides" of climate science

Canada’s Environment Minister says "there’s only one side" to climate change science — that "it's happening and it’s man-made"

The new U.S. Ambassador to Canada isn’t off to a great start.

Kelly Craft gave a puzzling answer when asked about her position on climate change this week, saying she believes “both sides” — scientists who say humans are causing global warming and those who deny it.

Canada’s Environment Minister swiftly disputed the claim.

“There’s really only one side to climate change science — that we’re seeing the impact of climate change and that it’s man made,” Catherine McKenna told VICE News late on Wednesday.

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McKenna’s comments follow a television interview with Kelly Craft, the new U.S. Ambassador.

When asked whether humans are causing climate change by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this week, Craft said: “Both sides have their own results from their studies and I appreciate and respect both sides of the science.”

Craft, who represents U.S. President Donald Trump in Canada, officially started her job on Monday. She declined an interview request from VICE News. Hailing from Kentucky, Craft’s husband is CEO of coal company Alliance Resource Partners.

Part of Craft’s job will be defending the U.S. decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Change Accord while Canada sticks with the deal to fight against human-caused climate change.

Ratified by nearly 170 countries, the Paris agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. The U.S. decision to leave the deal shouldn’t impact its broader relationship with allies, Craft said this week.

“No two countries share a deeper, a broader relationship than Canada and the United States. We are bound together by history, our values, our economy, our families, our environment and our resolve to improve the lives of our citizens,” Craft said during a speech in Ottawa on Monday.

Craft said she “absolutely” believes the U.S. could fight climate change without being in the Paris agreement.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) website, 97 percent of scientists say humans are causing climate change, while two percent reject that view.

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When asked by the CBC how she navigates the two countries’ different approaches to the Paris Climate Accord, Craft said: “We all have the same goal, and that is to better our environment and to maintain the environment. Therefore I feel our administration has been on top of this regardless of whether or not they would be pulling out.”

When asked if she believes in climate change, Craft said, “I believe there are sciences on both sides that are accurate.”

The vast majority of scientists, however, say humans are indeed causing the planet to get warmer. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA’s) website, 97 percent of scientists say humans are causing climate change, while two percent reject that view.

In a paper published by the journal of Theoretical and Applied Climatology in November 2016, a group of researchers at Texas Tech University examined 38 papers that denied human-caused climate change and found them all to contain flawed methodology.

“A common denominator seems to be missing contextual information or ignoring information that does not fit the conclusions,” the review found.

In its latest assessment report, the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states, “Human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed across all continents and oceans. Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented over decades to millennia.”

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Climate skeptics often point to the planet’s changing climate throughout history as reason to doubt human-caused global warming.

“There’s really only one side to climate change science — that we’re seeing the impact of climate change and that it’s man made,” Canada’s Environment Minister said.

According to NASA, in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the last ice age ending 7,000 years ago. Those changes were caused by tiny variations in the planet’s orbit and shifts in the amount of energy earth received from the sun.

The current warming trend is likely caused by human activity because atmospheric carbon dioxide has dramatically increased since the mid-20th century, coinciding with rapid growth of extractive industries, according to NASA.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have been shown to trap heat. Ice cores taken from glaciers around the world have shown the earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gases.

“There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response,” NASA states on its website.

According to three separate analyses by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Japanese Meteorological Agency, 2017 is on pace to be one of the warmest years on record.

While out for a run in Ottawa on Sunday, Craft said she was “taken” with both the warmth of the people and the weather.

“I was told this is going to be the way it is for the next six weeks, so I’m anxious to get out,” the ambassador said.

Cover: U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft (right) has questioned the science behind climate change to the chagrin of Canada’s Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna (left) via Canadian Press