What does one show to prove there is consensus on global warming?

gitfiddle · April 3, 2009, 12:46am

Is there a petition of climatologists or something like that which shows a consensus on climate change?

Colibri · April 3, 2009, 1:53am

The best you can probably do is to cite the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which represent the synthesis of the work of thousands of climate scientists.

You may want to look at the various reports on the site, particularly the Summary for Policymakers on the 2007 report.

Anyone who doesn’t think the IPCC report represents a consensus isn’t going to believe any other evidence you give to them.

Squink · April 3, 2009, 2:07am

Also reports from the National Academy of Science:
http://www.nationalacademies.org/

As well, the Royal Society, and various other national science academies around the world:
http://royalsociety.org/document.asp?id=3222

Sage_Rat · April 3, 2009, 2:27am

A list of all of the agencies and science organizations that endorse the global warming theory can be found in this thread. Googling those names in conjunction with the words “global warming” or “climate change” will probably come up with a press release, or worst case you have to search about their website.

“EPA climate change”:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/

“NASA climate change”:
http://globalchange.nasa.gov/Resources/pointers/glob_warm.html

“royal society climate change”:
http://royalsociety.org/landing.asp?id=1278

Colibri · April 3, 2009, 3:20am

Here’s an article from Science, the most prestigious US magazine on scientific research:

The scientific consensus is clearly expressed in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Programme, IPCC’s purpose is to evaluate the state of climate science as a basis for informed policy action, primarily on the basis of peer-reviewed and published scientific literature (3). In its most recent assessment, IPCC states unequivocally that the consensus of scientific opinion is that Earth’s climate is being affected by human activities: “Human activities … are modifying the concentration of atmospheric constituents … that absorb or scatter radiant energy. … [M]ost of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations” [p. 21 in (4)].

IPCC is not alone in its conclusions. In recent years, all major scientific bodies in the United States whose members’ expertise bears directly on the matter have issued similar statements.

Emphasis mine.

Sage_Rat · April 3, 2009, 3:37am