Apollo Astronaut-Moonwalker Calls Global Warming Political Tool

Says global warming is being exploited by scientists for political purposes

Tells of scientists who lose funding if they speak out

Harrison Schmitt, seen here during his Apollo 17 moonwalk in December, 1972

This story is a few months old, but I feel it bears repeating considering the prominence of Dr. Schmitt. Intriguing perspective.
Adding his voice to a growing chorus of scientists speaking out against the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) hypothesis, former astronaut and moonwalker Harrison Schmitt says that many scientists have sold out their objectivity for political reasons.
In some very strongly-worded statements, Dr. Schmitt lets it be known that he does not agree with the belief that man is predominantly responsible for global warming.  He said, “I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect.”
Dr. Schmitt recently resigned from the Planetary Society over his firm belief that global warming is not man-made.
In his email resignation Schmitt said:

“Consensus”, as many have said, merely represents the absence of definitive science. You know as well as I, the “global warming scare” is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision making. It has no place in the [Planetary] Society's activities.

As a geologist, I love Earth observations. But, it is ridiculous to tie this objective to a "consensus" that humans are causing global warming when human experience, geologic data and history, and current cooling can argue otherwise.

In an interview with AP, in speaking about those that advocate the man-made climate change hypothesis, Schmitt said:

They've seen too many of their colleagues lose grant funding when they haven't gone along with the so-called political consensus that we're in a human-caused global warming.  It's one of the few times you've seen a sizable portion of scientists who ought to be objective take a political position and it's coloring their objectivity.

Best known as the first ‘scientist astronaut’, Dr. Schmitt was chosen to walk on the moon with Apollo 17 in 1972 due to his education and experience as a geologist.
Dr. Schmitt received a B.S. degree in science from the California Institute of Technology, then spent a year studying geology at the University of Oslo in Norway and received a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard University in 1964.
Now a resident of Silver City, NM, he has been a United States Senator and currently serves as chair of the NASA Advisory Council providing technical advice to the NASA Administrator as well as being an adjunct professor of engineering physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.