John Marburger on the BBC
President Bush's science adviser, John Marburger, was interviewed today on the BBC (audio). Here is the quote that will get the most attention, undoubtedly (my own transcription):
The climate is in fact sensitive to CO2 emissions. As they increase, the anthropogenic contribution to global warming and climate change will simply progress. The CO2 just accumulates in the atmosphere, there is no end point. It just gets hotter and hotter. At some point the planet becomes unlivable.
His comments that followed had much nuance and focused on the imprecision of targets and timetables and how science cannot tell us how much time to act or what endpoint to choose. He concludes with a call for technological innovation.
His comments prior to the quote above emphasized acceptance of the IPCC consensus, which is interesting because the IPCC doesn't say anything that I am aware of about making the Earth unlivable.
The fallout from this comment will no doubt be interesting.