# What's the current consensus on global warming? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482 "2006-03-15T17:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/1 "2006-03-15T17:12:03Z")
This will probably turn into a GD issue, but I want to know what most scientists think about global warming. Is it happening? Is it man-made? Are doubts about it just wishful thinking or is it really still open to debate? Thanks for your help, Rob ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/2 "2006-03-15T17:19:27Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#): > > Is it happening? Is it man-made? The majority – but not quite consensus – opinion in the scientific community is “yes” to both. Here’s a good place to read up on it: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global\_warming\_controversy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_controversy) ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/3 "2006-03-15T17:22:44Z")
There aren’t more than a very few reputable scientists still expressing doubts that we’re currently experiencing a global warming trend - at least none that can be taken seriously. There is, however, still reasonable debate over the cause (or more likely - causes) of it. As there is over the magnitude and prognosis. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/4 "2006-03-15T17:30:34Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > There aren’t more than a very few reputable scientists still expressing doubts that we’re currently experiencing a global warming trend - at least none that can be taken seriously. There is, however, still reasonable debate over the cause (or more likely - causes) of it. As there is over the magnitude and prognosis. I would say, based on my own experiece, there is a very strong consensus among scientists - certainly, among those I know personally, and from what I have heard in conferences - that not only is global change occurring but that the major cause is human activity, in particular burning of fossil fuels. Public statements by scientists are actually much more careful and conservative on the issue than what I have heard expressed personally or in discussion in conferences. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/5 "2006-03-16T07:22:38Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#): > > This will probably turn into a GD issue, but I want to know what most scientists think about global warming. Is it happening? It does risk hitting GD territory. But basically yes. On 7 June 2005 by the national science academies of Britain, France, Russia, Germany, US, Japan, Italy, Canada, Brazil, China and India issued the following statement: There will always be uncertainty in understanding a system as complex as the world’s climate. However there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. The evidence comes from direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems. It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities. This warming has already led to changes in the Earth’s climate. The existence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is vital to life on Earth – in their absence average temperatures would be about 30 centigrade degrees lower than they are today. But human activities are now causing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases – including carbon dioxide, methane, tropospheric ozone, and nitrous oxide – to rise well above pre-industrial levels. Carbon dioxide levels have increased from 280 ppm in 1750 to over 375 ppm today – higher than any previous levels that can be reliably measured (i.e. in the last 420,000 years). Increasing greenhouse gases are causing temperatures to rise; the Earth’s surface warmed by approximately 0.6 centigrade degrees over the twentieth century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that the average global surface temperatures will continue to increase to between 1.4 centigrade degrees and 5.8 centigrade degrees above 1990 levels, by 2100. [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/displaypagedoc.asp?id=13618](http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/displaypagedoc.asp?id=13618) ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/6 "2006-03-16T16:55:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I would say, based on my own experiece, there is a very strong consensus among scientists - certainly, among those I know personally, and from what I have heard in conferences - that not only is global change occurring but that the major cause is human activity, in particular burning of fossil fuels. > > Public statements by scientists are actually much more careful and conservative on the issue than what I have heard expressed personally or in discussion in conferences. Yeah? Interesting. Thanks for the inside peek. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-consensus-on-global-warming/348482/7 "2006-03-16T17:51:17Z")
Not global, I know, but the CET (Central England Temperature series) graphs at the Hadley Centre website make uncomfortable viewing: [http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/obsdata/cet.html](http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/obsdata/cet.html) In fcat they also have global temperature charts - [http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/CR\_data/Annual/HadCRUG.gif](http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/CR_data/Annual/HadCRUG.gif) It seems fairly cut and dried that global warming _is_ happening. The debate nowadays seems mostly focused on weather it’s man-made, and when you consider that CO[sub]2[/sub] levels are currently at their highest for at least [a million years](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4803460.stm), it’s not hard to see why many scientists are convinced.