The International Panel on Climate Change is at it again.On Nov. 2, the IPCC released its latest report, “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability — Fifth Assessment.” It was written by 306 authors from 60 countries and runs 1,820 pages. And consistent with previous reports, this one portends gloom and doom for the planet unless we begin to make a concerted effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide.

Also consistent with previous reports from the IPCC were the reactions from the climate change deniers, especially Republicans, and more especially Sen. Jim Inhofe, the 79-year old Tulsan who was just re-elected. Inhofe is set to become chairman of the Environment & Public Works committee in January under the new Republican-controlled Senate and will be heavily involved in any legislation regarding climate change.

With that in mind, consider Inhofe’s response to the IPCC report: “It comes as no surprise that the IPCC is again advocating for the implementation of extreme climate change regulations that will cripple the global economy and send energy prices skyrocketing.”

He apparently thinks his predictions are better than the IPCC’s.

Sen. Inhofe has been the champion of climate change deniers for years. In 2012, he wrote a book on the subject: “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.” Not surprising for someone whose campaign treasure chest is overflowing with money from the petroleum industry and related parties.

As an evangelical, Inhofe has also claimed that human-influenced climate change is impossible because “God’s still up there,” and that it is “outrageous” and arrogant for people to believe human beings are “able to change what he is doing in the climate.” Like many other religionists in the political theater, Inhofe confuses belief and dogma with science and facts.

If Inhofe had been around in the early part of 1492, I’m pretty sure he would have been absolutely convinced that Earth was flat and that Columbus’ proposed voyage West to find the Far East was doomed to fall off the edge.

Besides the outspoken Inhofe, there are many others, mostly conservatives, who deny that climate change is caused by humans and that it is a natural phenomenon over which humans have no control.

The carbon tax, the subsidies for alternative energy sources and the retrofitting of certain industries to reduce greenhouse gases, which are suggested as means of abating human contributions to climate change along with the attendant growth in government bureaucracies, are all anathema to the right wing of the political spectrum. Big business is better than big government, they say.