Remember your parents telling you to pause your online game? Well, this is kind of like that except instead of your game it’s the moon, and instead of your parents, it’s a congressman asking you to change the moon’s orbit. You know that’s not quite the solution but you can’t really say no. Climate change is among the top issues that the world is facing in the 21st century.
The only real solution to counter climate change is to dial down on the practices that are causing it. This includes cutting back on carbon emissions, planting more trees, not dumping toxic wastes and trash into the sea. All in all, it requires a lot of effort. However, Congressman Louie Gohmert has a really unique solution to climate change. During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on four bills, he questioned Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the Forest Service.
He started the conversation by leading with “I understand, from what’s been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM, you want very much to work on the issue of climate change”. He further said that “I was informed by the immediate past director of NASA that they’ve found that the moon’s orbit is changing slightly and so is the Earth’s orbit around the sun. We know there’s been significant solar flare activity.
“And so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit around the sun? Obviously, that would have profound effects on our climate”. Eberlien replied with a smile, saying “I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert”.
While the Bureau of Land Management couldn’t quite give an answer to Gohmert’s idea, Rep. Ted Lieu came out with his own solution to his suggestion. He tweeted saying that Captain Marvel could be the only one to handle the job effectively. You can read his tweet below.
NASA didn’t miss the chance to debunk Gohmert’s idea. According to a statement by the agency, “Past climatic changes driven by small variations in Earth’s position relative to the Sun, known as orbital or Milankovitch cycles, take place over tens of thousands of years. These orbital cycles are not producing the changes we observe in our satellite and surface climate records, including rapid warming and CO2 levels that are unprecedented for millions of years”.
Basically, it’s not the moon’s fault.