U.S. Senator Cruz, who recently announced his bid for the office of U.S. President in 2016, told The Texas Tribune that people who say the global climate is changing because of human activity (or, in his words,”global warming alarmists”) are like those who once believed the Earth was flat. He went on to imply that his own position is similar to that of the Renaissance-era scientist, Galileo Galilei who,was “heretic” and “denier” for his belief that the Earth was round. In fact, Galileo was persecuted for saying Earth rotated about the sun, not that the planet was round.

Cruz declared tht warming of the climate has not changed “whatsoever for 17 years…. the satellite data show it ain’t happening.” Referencing an article on global cooling in Newsweek in the 1970s Cruz said that, because the theory was not supported by facts, “all the advocates of global cooling suddenly shifted to global warming.” Nevertheless, he said, the same solutions for global warming continue to be advocated as were proposed for global cooling – “government control of the energy sector and every aspect of our lives.”

The belief that Earth was flat had long been discredited by the time Galileo was in his prime. This was “confirmed” recently in an “open letter” in The Washington Post from Galileo to Cruz.

In his role as chair of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Science and Space, the Texas Republican’s  words are not insignificant to the public debate. He recently advised the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to make the exploration of space a priority over research on climate change. Cruz’ comments, ironically, are a mirror of those from President Barack Obama last year when he scoffed at skeptics of climate change as the “flat-Earth society.”

This year will be a significant one for global policy around climate change. Long-term and significant negotiations are scheduled to be completed and, if all goes well, a major international accord on global warming pollution reductions will be finalized in Paris. It is also expected that President Obama will take action on the XL extension into the U.S. of the Canadian Keystone petroleum pipeline.

According to recent data from Gallup, Inc. approximately one third of Americans are concerned a “great deal” about environmental issues and another one quarter say they are worried a “fair amount.” Such levels, while signifiant, are lower than previous polls indicated in 2006 and 2009. The highest levels of concerns were reported in 1999 and 2000.