The Global Warming Consensus

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According to a Jan 2009 article in Eos, a publication of the American Geophysical Union (called 'Examining the Scientific consensus on Climate Change'), researchers found that 58% of the general public in the US thinks that human activity is a significant contributing factor in global warming, as opposed to 97% of climate and atmospheric specialists surveyed.

97%!? Does that sound like a "debate" to you? The scientific consensus on human caused global warming is overwhelming. Any amount of obscurantism (lies and distortions) on the part of global warming Denialists is not only intellectually dishonest, but strait up pathological.

People may have their "opinions" on the subject, but when it comes to the climate science well over 90% of ALL experts agree: global warming is real and is driven by human 'engineered' methane and carbon outputs. To wiser minds this is known as FACT.

The disproportion between these numbers is a concern for two reasons: ignorant people get to vote (and rightly so). Thus politicians have to occasionally give into to public demand, even when that demand is uninformed and ill-advised by people who know are in charge of looking into the matter. For better or worse that's democracy.

Also, because of the high numbers of scientifically illiterate citizens, popular culture will remain a contentious domain of "debate" and propaganda about global warming - thereby creating situations where well-intentioned and intelligent people will be led to believe that scientists are still unsure about the issues. This leaves room for half-baked conspiracy theories and ad hoc speculations, which in turn allows people to form misguided and factually inaccurate beliefs/positions.

Of course, this is nothing new - but considering the stakes of this particular issue, it is absolutely devastating and potentially disastrous.