The State of Climate Science (Part 2 of 2) – Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming – 2009-12-02 – With the international climate change talks in Copenhagen fast approaching, there is real urgency to reach diplomatic consensus on a planetary solution. In a hearing on Wednesday December 2, 2009, the Select Committee explored with climate scientists from the Obama administration the urgent, consensus view on our planetary problem: that global warming is real, and the science indicates that it is getting worse. At the hearing, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) hosted two of America’s preeminent climate scientists, Dr. John Holdren and Dr. Jane Lubchenco. Dr. Holdren is the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and was formerly a professor at Harvard University and the director of the acclaimed Woods Hole Research Center. Dr. Lubchenco is the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States’ leading climate office. The past decade has been the hottest in recorded history, with all of the years since 2001 being in the top 10 of hottest, according to NASA. This summer, the world’s oceans were the warmest in NOAA’s 130 years of record-keeping. Meanwhile, global heat-trapping pollution continues to rise. Video provided by the US House of Representatives.