title:  Sixty-Three Percent Of Americans Are Represented By A Climate Change Denier In Congress (VIDEO)
text: While the overwhelming majority of Americans accept the scientific consensus on climate change, a new study shows that a similar majority of Americans are represented in Congress by someone who denies the reality of climate change.Congress is supposed to be representative of the American people, yet while less than a quarter of U.S. citizens deny the reality of climate change, 63 percent of voters are now represented in Washington by someone who claims that climate change is not real.Far from being representative of the American people, new research from the Center for American Progress Action Fund suggests that Congress is far more representative of the fossil fuel industry than every day voters.There are 182 representatives in Congress who deny the reality of climate change. These federal lawmakers are supposed to represent the nearly 203 million people in their congressional districts.While 76 percent of voters believe that climate change is very real problem which must be addressed, these representatives spend their time in Washington fighting against any legislation that help tackle the problem.As Think Progress reports here, these legislators have received a total of $73,294,380 from  dirty energy companies in the coal, oil, and gas industries. Even more revealing, Think Progress reports that dirty energy money characterizes climate deniers in Washington: In general, the average career dirty energy contribution per Senate denier was $889,101, compared to $207,272 for those who had not publicly revealed themselves to be deniers. The average House contribution was $274,365 per denier, and $92,000 for non-deniers. In total, House deniers pulled in $39,508,554 in dirty energy money, while deniers in the Senate pulled in $33,785,826. These facts show that GOP climate change deniers, like Texas representative Joe Barton, are getting huge amounts of money to push an agenda laid out by the fossil fuel industry, even though it flies in the face of science.Barton has collected nearly $2,100,000 from dirty energy contributors, according to an interactive map published by Think Progress, here.Heading into the November elections, the map serves as a useful tool for voters who would like to weed out climate deniers in Congress. It allows voters to search for climate change deniers by state, and to view the extent of industry contributions each legislator has received in return.The American people deserve a Congress that reflects their priorities, not the priorities of dirty energy companies.To find out which representatives in your state deny the reality of climate change, check out the map published here.Watch Bill Nye explain the reality of climate change in four minutes. Featured image via video screen capture via National Geographic on YouTube