Democrat Jared Polis came out swinging Tuesday — just one week before the election — denouncing his Republican opponent for questioning a link between human-made carbon emissions and global warming.

Polis cited a comment Scott Starin made last week to the online political commentary and news Web site the Colorado Independent, in which the Lafayette aerospace engineer is quoted as saying, “I do not believe that climate change is due to man-made carbon emissions.”

Polis and Starin are running to replace U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, in the 2nd Congressional District.

“It would be an utter stretch of the imagination to believe that global warming is not from man-made sources, and it’s a total disregard for science,” Polis said Tuesday. “He’s out of touch with what the vast scientific consensus is.”

Starin, 47, said he may have overstated his views to the Independent, saying Tuesday he simply doesn’t know for sure what the relationship is between the burning of fossil fuels and rising temperatures around the world. He said neither does Polis.

“I am not a climatologist, but I am also not egotistical enough or arrogant enough to know the answer,” he said.

Starin accused Polis, 33, of using his ambivalence to “mischaracterize” his commitment to developing sources of alternative energy.

“That’s totally crap,” Starin said.

Starin said he believes in wind and solar power as important sources of energy but that until the technologies can be fully harnessed and the energy they produce stored and transmitted cost-effectively, increased drilling for oil and gas is critical.

Polis is opposed to offshore drilling and to further drilling on public lands.

“It starts with drilling as a transition to alternatives when they are viable,” Starin said. “He is operating under the naive assumption that wind and solar will be the primary components of our energy needs.”

Starin also said it is critical that the United States increase its oil production to lessen the country’s reliance on foreign oil, strengthen the dollar and decrease the trade deficit.

Polis said his opponent is simply working off of outdated assumptions and outmoded thinking.

Even Republican presidential candidate John McCain has embraced the idea that global warming is largely human-caused, Polis said.

“Then there are the others, like Scott Starin and (Republican vice presidential candidate) Sarah Palin who disregard the science,” he said.

Bill Hammons, the Unity Party candidate in the race, said his position has evolved on global warming from supporting a carbon tax to backing a cap-and-trade system, in which polluters and non-polluters are offered economic incentives to reduce their emissions.

Polis also supports a cap-and-trade system. Starin fiercely opposes the notion.

“The only question is how do we correct the damage we already have caused?” Hammons asked, acknowledging the link between human activity and the warming climate.

J.A. Calhoun, the Green Party 2nd Congressional District candidate, didn’t return a call for comment.