Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:10:06 -0800 (PST) From: Santosh Helekar <chimbel...@yahoo.com>
The U. S. National Academy of Sciences, one of the world's most prestigious scientific organizations has provided the following update on the science behind global warming: http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/climate_change_2008_final.pdf It should clarify doubts and answer basic questions regarding this topic. Mario responds: Thanks for this link from one respected scientific organization which certainly lays out the case for the proposition that global warming is being caused by human activity. Where the doubts arise is when so many reputable and respected scientists disagree with the findings of this report and that of the UN's IPCC. One of the problems seems to be the overheated claims by some proponents that there is universal "consensus" and the matter is "settled" science, when clearly neither claim is accurate. The IPCC's claims that thousands of scientists participated in its report has also been challenged as false by scientists who were part of the process. Such claims raise doubts apart from the science which is complex enough. For example, From 1940 to 1980, when human industrial activity, and presumably CO2 levels, were experiencing tremendous growth, global temperatures did not rise, and even declined for a period of time. Remember, the controversy is not whether global warming is taking place, but whether it is being caused by natural phenomena or human activity, and whether reversing or curbing the human activity, specifically CO2 levels, is a) necessary, b) economically harmful to poor countries, and c) going to make any significant difference, even if it can be done at some reasonable cost. A concurrent discussion is whether any modest global warming in the future may be a net benefit to the world: http://www.newsweek.com/id/35543 The opposing view is illustrated by the following examples from the US Senate report I posted earlier. I have limited these examples in the interests of brevity, and only to make the point that the issue is still being furiously debated within the scientific community: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2674e64f-802a-23ad-490b-bd9faf4dcdb7&Issue_id= For example [links to quotes are in above report] * Quote: "This new 231-page U.S. Senate Minority Report -- updated from 2007’s groundbreaking report of over 400 scientists who voiced skepticism about the so-called global warming “consensus” -- features the skeptical voices of over 650 prominent international scientists, including many current and former UN IPCC scientists, who have now turned against the UN IPCC." * Quote: "The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers." * Quote: "Russian scientists “rejected the very idea that carbon dioxide may be responsible for global warming”." * Quote: "An American Physical Society editor conceded that a “considerable presence” of scientific skeptics exists." * Quote: "An International team of scientists countered the UN IPCC, declaring: “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate”." * Quote: "... a canvass of more than 51,000 Canadian scientists revealed 68% disagree that global warming science is “settled.” * Letter to UN Secretary General by a group of 13 scientists including three IPCC reviewers and one Nobel Prize winner: Quote: "The UN Climate Change Panel must be called to account and cease its deceptive practices - Policies based on false science must be ended. We, an independent group of experts in various aspects of science and the environment, ask you to redress the lack of scientific integrity of the UN’s Climate Change Panel (IPCC) and to stop making reactionary and futile ‘Climate Change’ recommendations that hold back the developing world. As you read this, policies that you endorse are already causing misery and starvation for the world's poor." [end quote] * http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=865DBE39-802A-23AD-4949-EE9098538277 Quote: "Climate Skeptics Reveal ‘Horror Stories’ of Scientific Suppression." Mario's Conclusion: The only point to be made here is that there are a significant number of scientists who are not yet convinced that the matter is "settled" and that the broad "consensus" being claimed by some, does not yet exist.
