EDMONTON — Remarks by Alberta Wildrose party Leader Danielle Smith on climate change have at least one top scientist wondering if she believes in a flat Earth as well.
Smith said Monday that the science around climate change is not settled.
University of Alberta biologist David Schindler says he wonders if Smith thinks the flat Earth debate is still going on.
He says scientists may debate how quickly greenhouse gases will warm the Earth, but the basic theory is no longer challenged.
Schindler says Smith’s statement — which is longtime Wildrose policy — betrays ignorance about what’s really going on in science.
Calgary political scientist Duane Bratt suggests Smith is probably doing the bidding of her party’s backers in the energy industry.
A published American study looked at more than 1,300 research papers on climate and found that 97 per cent of them supported the standard theory of climate change.