--- title: Senator Jim Inhofe: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denier 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 canonical: https://time.com/3618600/climate-change-senator-jim-inhofe/ author: Michael Lester article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T19:41:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:13.149Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe og:description: The climate denier in charge of the Senate Climate Committee og:url: https://time.com/3618600/climate-change-senator-jim-inhofe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3a171a1c3c1c689/69876cb70b72e3805f6dc5a6/inhofe-in-jail-tout.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 640 og:image:height: 360 og:image:alt: Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe twitter:description: The climate denier in charge of the Senate Climate Committee twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3a171a1c3c1c689/69876cb70b72e3805f6dc5a6/inhofe-in-jail-tout.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Science Cop Take on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=41f1c125-f56f-4201-b72f-f04e1c0a0f65&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## 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 [Michael Lester](https://time.com/author/michael-lester/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Dec 4, 2014 7:41 PM UTC 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 [Michael Lester](https://time.com/author/michael-lester/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Dec 4, 2014 7:41 PM UTC You don’t have to be a general to be head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, but if you don’t at least believe in the existence of a military, we’ve got a problem on our hands. The country is about to face something similar in January, when the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate and Oklahoma’s James Inhofe — Congress’s most vocal global warming denier — becomes chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Inhofe, who has called climate change “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” not only sniffs at what the overwhelming majority of climatologists know to be true, he actually tries to go toe to toe with them on the science. And that’s where he exposes how little he knows — and how wrong he is. The Science Cop explains. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] They say elections have consequences. Well, we're about to experience a doozy. And it's because when voters elected Republicans to a majority of both Chambers of Congress, they effectively put Oklahoma Senator and long- time climate change denier, James Inhofe. In charge of the Senate's climate policy. This is the same James Inhofe who has called climate change quote, the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. So let's see what science thinks of what the senator has to say. [ MUSIC ] The claim that global warming is caused by man- made emissions is simply untrue, and not based on sound science. Decades of research by international climatologists, none of them Senators from fossil fuel states, say otherwise. Indeed, there is a 97 % consensus among scientists that climate change has been proven, and that humans play a big role. The United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change says decisively, quote, " we have overwhelming evidence that it is happening and that it is real .". CO2 does not actually cause catastrophic disasters. Actually it would be good for our environment and our economy. That one may be true. Provided you're willing to overlook a few things. Global sea levels have risen by 6. 7 inches in the past century. Autumn ice cover in the Arctic is 23 % below average. From 1980 to 2010 there were 99 weather related disasters in the US costing at least a billion dollars. Apiece. Stubborn droughts are punishing vast swaths of the American West and the 20 hottest years in the last century have occurred since 1980, which is part of the famous hockey stick graph. The hockey stick was completely and thoroughly broken once and for all in 2006. Two Canadian researchers tore apart the statistical foundation for the hockey stick. Wrong again, just last year the National Science Foundation studied ice core samples from 73 locations around the world and found that the Earth is currently warmer than it's been for 70 to 80 % of the last 11, 300 years. In the last 5, 000 years Earth actually slowly cooled by 1. 3 degrees. But it made up all the heat it lost in just the last 100 years. And then there's the religious argument. God's still up there. And this is the arrogance of people to think that we, human beings would be able to change what he is doing in the climate, is to me outrageous. It's a favorite trope of people like Inhofe to frame faith and science as binary choices. But you can believe that God created the earth and still accept the fact that we have the power to mess it up. The same God would've created rivers and tigers too. That doesn't mean we're not capable of polluting the rivers until almost nothing can live in them or hunting the tigers nearly to extinction. Finally, in [ UNKNOWN ], Michael Crichton's anti- climate science novel State of Fear. I think I've read most of his books. I enjoyed most State of Fear, and made it required reading for the environment committee. Just to be clear, the book was a novel. Which is to say, fiction. Which is to say, it was all made up. When it comes to Inhofe and science, that pretty much explains everything. 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