Texas Rep.Louie Gohmert (R) asked a representative from the Forest Service if it was possible to fight climate change by altering the orbit of the Earth or the moon, during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing in Wednesday.
“I understand from what’s been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], you want very much to work on the issue of climate change,” Gohmert said to Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the National Forest System.
“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?” Gohmert asked. “Obviously they would have profound effects on our climate.”
“I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert,” Eberlien responded.
“Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I’d like to know,” Gohmert added.
According to NASA, relatively slight changes in Earth’s movement affect the planet’s climate.
The shape of the Earth’s orbit changes as it travels around the sun. It varies from nearly circular to slightly elliptical. Currently, Earth’s orbital shape is near its least elliptic (most circular) and is very slowly decreasing, in a cycle that spans about 100,000 years. The tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation and how much it “wobbles” as it travels around the sun also slightly changes every tens of thousand of years.
These slight changes are called Milankovitch cycles, named after Milutin Milankovitch, a Serbian astrophysicist who began investigating the cause of Earth’s ancient ice ages in the early 1900. These cycles play key roles in Earth’s short-term weather and long-term climate, according to NASA.
