Denying global warming is like arguing that the Moon is made of cheese, Barack Obama has claimed.
In a speech to thousands of graduates, the US president said that Congress was ‘full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject scientific evidence’ by claiming climate change is a hoax or fad.
Mr Obama told of politicians who said to him: ‘Hey, look, I’m not a scientist.’
But he explained: ‘I’ll translate that for you, what that really means is, “I know that man-made climate change really is happening – but if I admit it, I’ll be run out of town by a radical fringe that thinks climate science is a liberal plot.”
‘It’s pretty rare that you’ll encounter somebody who says the problem you’re trying to solve simply doesn’t exist.’
Mr Obama added: ‘When President Kennedy set us on a course to the Moon, there were a number of people who made a serious case that it wouldn’t be worth it. But nobody ignored the science. I don’t remember anybody saying the Moon wasn’t there, or that it was made of cheese.’
He revealed the US political system is focused on ‘small things’ but stressed that Americans should do ‘big things’, such as addressing climate change.
But the president conceded that many young people are fed a diet of cynicism.
Mr Obama told the students: ‘Consider this: since the time you graduated from high school, fewer Americans are at war.
‘More have health insurance. More are graduating from college. Our businesses have added more than 9million jobs. And the number of states where you’re free to marry who you love has doubled. That is some of the progress you’ve seen.’