What Consensus on Global Warming?

June 1st, 2010 by admin | Posted in Uncategorized |

From Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe:

In 2003, environmental scientists Dennis Bray and Hans von Storch surveyed 530 of their peers in 27 countries on topics related to global warming.

Question 1: To what extent do you agree or disagree that climate change is mostly the result of anthropogenic (human) causes?
Answer: On a scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 7 (strongly disagree), the average score was 3.62, reflecting no clear consensus.

Question 2: Will abrupt climate changes wreak devastation in some areas of the world?
Answer: 9.1% of the scientists strongly agreed, which was nearly identical to the percentage strongly disagreeing, 9%.

Question 3: To what degree might global warming prove beneficial for some societies?
Answer: A striking 34% of the scientists answered 1 or 2 (a great degree of benefit); just 8.3% answered 6 or 7 (very little/no benefit).

Bottom Line: Clearly, the science of climate change is still young and unsettled. Years of trial and error are still to come. Al Gore notwithstanding, the debate is hardly over.

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Tags: Abrupt Climate Changes, Al Gore, Benefit, Boston Globe, Bottom Line, Climate Change, Consensus, Countries, Dennis Bray, Devastation, Environmental Scientists, Extent, Global Warming, Jeff Jacoby, Peers, Science, Score, Storch, Trial And Error, World Answer