Official National Park account: There’s ‘overwhelming consensus’ on climate change

The official account of Joshua Tree National Park on Wednesday tweeted that there’s an “overwhelming consensus” that human activity is the driving force behind climate change.

“An overwhelming consensus—over 97%—of climate scientists agree that human activity is the driving force behind today’s rate of global temperature increase,” the account tweeted.

“Natural factors that impact the climate are still at work, but cannot account for today’s rapid warming,” the tweet continued.

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In a subsequent tweet, the account said emissions from burning fossil fuels have “increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”

“This amplifies the greenhouse effect,” the account tweeted. “Human activity is affecting the land, oceans, & atmosphere, altering the balance of the climate system & causing global changes.” 

An overwhelming consensus—over 97%—of climate scientists agree that human activity is the driving force behind today’s rate of global temperature increase. Natural factors that impact the climate are still at work, but cannot account for today’s rapid warming. pic.twitter.com/keLh7CNWg2

— Joshua Tree NPS (@JoshuaTreeNPS) November 8, 2017

Emissions from burning of fossil fuels have increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This amplifies the greenhouse effect.
Human activity is affecting the land, oceans, & atmosphere, altering the balance of the climate system & causing global changes.

— Joshua Tree NPS (@JoshuaTreeNPS) November 8, 2017

Natural (and often cyclical) processes such as ocean currents, volcanic eruptions, geologic events such as mountain building and continental uplift, and variations in the amount of solar radiation (energy) reaching the Earth’s surface also influence the global climate.

— Joshua Tree NPS (@JoshuaTreeNPS) November 8, 2017

The tweets come after an extensive report was published earlier this month by the federal government that said humans are the primary drivers of climate change, causing higher temperatures, sea level rise and agriculture problems.

The report is years in the making and involved contributions from more than a dozen federal agencies.

It is meant to be an authoritative assessment of the current state of climate change science.

Many of the report’s conclusions directly contradict Trump administration officials’ positions on climate change.

Trump officials like Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry say they can’t be sure whether human-caused greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are the primary cause of climate change.

The information contained in the tweets is also indicated on the official EPA website.

Shortly after President Trump took office, a national park Twitter account sent and then deleted tweets about climate science.

A National Park Service official said at the time the since-deleted posts from the Badlands National Park account came from “a former employee who was not currently authorized to use the park’s account.”

The tweets came amid a Trump administration crackdown on social media activities from several key agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

— Timothy Cama and Devin Henry contributed to this report.