National academy of sciences says global warming is caused by human activity. what lie now?

Date: June 6, 2001

Contacts: Bill Kearney, Media Relations Officer

Mark Chesnek, Media Relations Assistant

(202) 334-2138; e-mail %26lt;news@nas.edu%26gt;



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Leading Climate Scientists Advise White House on Global Warming



WASHINGTON -- In a report requested by the Bush administration, a committee of the National Academies' National Research Council summed up science's current understanding of global climate change by characterizing the global warming trend over the last 100 years, and examining what may be in store for the 21st century and the extent to which warming may be attributable to human activity. The committee -- made up of 11 of the nation's top climate scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, one of whom is a Nobel-Prize winner -- also emphasized that much more systematic research is needed to reduce current uncertainties in climate-change science.



%26quot;We know that greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's atmosphere, causing surface temperatures to rise,%26quot; said committee chair Ralph Cicerone, chancellor, University of California at Irvine. %26quot;We don't know precisely how much of this rise to date is from human activities, but based on physical principles and highly sophisticated computer models, we expect the warming to continue because of greenhouse gas emissions.%26quot;



Based on assumptions that emissions of greenhouse gases will accelerate and conservative assumptions about how the climate will react to that, computer models suggest that average global surface temperatures will rise between 2.5 and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius) by the end of this century.



With regard to the basic question of whether climate change is occurring, the report notes that measurements show that temperatures at the Earth's surface rose by about 1 degree Fahrenheit (about .6 degrees Celsius) during the 20th century. This warming process has intensified in the past 20 years, accompanied by retreating glaciers, thinning arctic ice, rising sea levels, lengthening of the growing season in many areas, and earlier arrival of migratory birds.



The committee said the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the global warming that has occurred in the last 50 years is likely the result of increases in greenhouse gases accurately reflects the current thinking of the scientific community. However, it also cautioned that uncertainties about this conclusion remain because of the level of natural variability inherent in the climate on time scales from decades to centuries, the questionable ability of models to simulate natural variability on such long time scales, and the degree of confidence that can be placed on estimates of temperatures going back thousands of years based on evidence from tree rings or ice cores.National academy of sciences says global warming is caused by human activity. what lie now?
Caused by? They have just completely lost all credibility if they stated it this way. If they want to argue %26quot;enhanced by%26quot; then even though I think they're wrong i would be willing to listen to the argument........National academy of sciences says global warming is caused by human activity. what lie now?
My globes are very warm today, it is 96 degrees!~!National academy of sciences says global warming is caused by human activity. what lie now?
I am an advocate for saving our planet, but we will not convince anyone to change based on information almost 7 years old. I commend your efforts though.National academy of sciences says global warming is caused by human activity. what lie now?
Well, the press release you just quoted is from 2001. It's hardly breaking news, is it? But I agree. Every single academic and scientific institution on the planet currently endorses the IPCC's position on climate change. So if global warming theory is all a conspiracy, it's quite the biggest and most complex in all of human history. In fact, it's completely ridiculous to think a conspiracy of this size could even exist.



Even so though, the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community on the matter doesn't actually prove anything. You'll have an easier time convincing people that anthropogenic climate change is real if you simply present the science to them. Faced with the mind boggling amount of evidence supporting the theory, most people would be hard pressed to deny it.National academy of sciences says global warming is caused by human activity. what lie now?
Then I guess you folks are screwed, cause I refuse to change my lifestyle.