oroncefineFormer state representative and two-time Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Quist claims that a map from the 1500s “disproves the theory of man-made global warming.” In a recent piece for Ed Watch, the conservative organization his wife is vice president of, Quist relies on a map laid out by Oronteus Finaeus which shows a partially ice-free Antarctica with flowing rivers.

From it Quist concludes:

Since Antarctica was much warmer when some of the source-maps were drawn than it is today, the theory that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are the primary cause of climate change must be given up.

The same argument has been made in creationist literature. Science blogger PZ Myers points out that many of the Antarctic details of the antique map are wrong.

Quist was nominated this year as a social studies curriculum expert by the Texas State Board of Education, Myers notes. His candidacy failed when no one seconded his nomination by former board chair Don McLeroy. Quist’s academic work includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in speech. He in an adjunct professor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato.