--- title: Sen. James Inhofe Throws Snowball in the Senate Because Climate Change description: Inhofe is a vocal climate change denier canonical: https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/ author: Rachel Janik article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-26T22:04:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:48.443Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch a Senator Throw a Snowball on the Senate Floor og:description: Sen. James Inhofe made a symbolic point about climate change og:url: https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch a Senator Throw a Snowball on the Senate Floor twitter:description: Sen. James Inhofe made a symbolic point about climate change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Senator Throws Snowball on Senate Floor to Disprove Climate Change ## Video: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UbAmQMaL.m3u8) (3:52)  _Published 2014-12-04. When the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate, Oklahoma's James Inhofe— a global warming denier—becomes chair of the Environment Committee_ by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Feb 26, 2015 10:04 PM UTC by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Feb 26, 2015 10:04 PM UTC Sen. James Inhofe tossed a snowball in the Senate chamber Thursday, using the stunt to emphasize his long-held belief that climate change is [“the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”](http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/02/inhofe.html) The Oklahoma Republican is the chair of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee. After a blizzard blew through the southern states in recent days, reaching Washington D.C., Inhofe took advantage of the snow to make his symbolic point that extreme winter weather disproves global warming. This isn’t the first time he’s done so. After a winter storm in 2010, Inhofe and his family [built an igloo](http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/02/inhofe.html) and named it after noted environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/"},"headline":"Senator Throws Snowball on Senate Floor to Disprove Climate Change","datePublished":"2015-02-26T22:04:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:48.443Z","description":"Sen. James Inhofe has a way with visual metaphors","url":"https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Janik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/","name":"Senator Throws Snowball on Senate Floor to Disprove Climate Change"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe","description":"When the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate, Oklahoma's James Inhofe— a global warming denier—becomes chair of the Environment Committee","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UbAmQMaL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-04T19:23:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UbAmQMaL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/","duration":"PT3M52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3724969/james-inhofe-snowball-senate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```