.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Mole's Progressive Democrat

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. Originally intended for New York City progressives, its readership is now national. For anyone who wants to be alerted by email whenever this newsletter is updated (usually weekly), please send your email address and let me know what state you live in (so I can keep track of my readership).

Name:
Location: Brooklyn, New York, United States

I am a research biologist in NYC. Married with two kids living in Brooklyn.

Google
  • Help end world hunger
  • Friday, March 05, 2010

    Scientific Consensus on Global Warming

    I also want to repeat this from last year. Around October of 2009, a coalition of 18 major scientific organizations (these are really big ones...some of the biggest in the country) issued this statement (PDF) to the Senate:

    Dear Senator:

    As you consider climate change legislation, we, as leaders of scientific organizations, write to state the consensus scientific view.

    Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.

    These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of evidence, and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science. Moreover, there is strong evidence that ongoing climate change will have broad impacts on society, including the global economy and on the environment. For the United States, climate change impacts include sea level rise for coastal states, greater threats of extreme weather events, and increased risk of regional water scarcity, urban heat waves, western wildfires, and the disturbance of biological systems throughout the country. The severity of climate change impacts is expected to increase substantially in the coming decades. [See Footnote #1 below]

    If we are to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, emissions of greenhouse gases must be dramatically reduced. In addition, adaptation will be necessary to address those impacts that are already unavoidable. Adaptation efforts include improved infrastructure design, more sustainable management of water and other natural resources, modified agricultural practices, and improved emergency responses to storms, floods, fires and heat waves.

    We in the scientific community offer our assistance to inform your deliberations as you seek to address the impacts of climate change.


    1 The conclusions in this paragraph reflect the scientific consensus represented by, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and U.S. Global Change Research Program. Many scientific societies have endorsed these findings in their own statements, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and American Statistical Association.


    The following societies signed this statement:

    * American Association for the Advancement of Science
    * American Chemical Society
    * American Geophysical Union
    * American Institute of Biological Sciences
    * American Meteorological Society
    * American Society of Agronomy
    * American Society of Plant Biologists
    * American Statistical Association
    * Association of Ecosystem Research Centers
    * Botanical Society of America
    * Crop Science Society of America
    * Ecological Society of America
    * Natural Science Collections
    * Alliance Organization of Biological Field Stations
    * Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
    * Society of Systematic Biologists
    * Soil Science Society of America
    * University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

    The scientific consensus regarding global warming is overwhelming. It is time for the denial lobby to shut up. I recommend all my readers forward the above statement to their Congress critters. And let me add another list, taken from Daily Kos, showing the overwhelming scientific agreement on global warming. The following groups say the danger of human-caused climate change is a ... FACT:

    U.S. Agency for International Development
    United States Department of Agriculture
    National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
    National Institute of Standards and Technology
    United States Department of Defense
    United States Department of Energy
    National Institutes of Health
    United States Department of State
    United States Department of Transportation
    U.S. Geological Survey
    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
    University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
    National Center for Atmospheric Research
    National Aeronautics & Space Administration
    National Science Foundation
    Smithsonian Institution
    International Arctic Science Committee
    Arctic Council
    African Academy of Sciences
    Australian Academy of Sciences
    Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts
    Academia Brasileira de Ciéncias
    Cameroon Academy of Sciences
    Royal Society of Canada
    Caribbean Academy of Sciences
    Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Académie des Sciences, France
    Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences
    Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina of Germany
    Indonesian Academy of Sciences
    Royal Irish Academy
    Accademia nazionale delle scienze of Italy
    Indian National Science Academy
    Science Council of Japan
    Kenya National Academy of Sciences
    Madagascar’s National Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences
    Academy of Sciences Malaysia
    Academia Mexicana de Ciencias
    Nigerian Academy of Sciences
    Royal Society of New Zealand
    Polish Academy of Sciences
    Russian Academy of Sciences
    l’Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal
    Academy of Science of South Africa
    Sudan Academy of Sciences
    Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
    Tanzania Academy of Sciences
    Turkish Academy of Sciences
    Uganda National Academy of Sciences
    The Royal Society of the United Kingdom
    National Academy of Sciences, United States
    Zambia Academy of Sciences
    Zimbabwe Academy of Science
    American Academy of Pediatrics
    American Association for the Advancement of Science
    American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians
    American Astronomical Society
    American Chemical Society
    American College of Preventive Medicine
    American Geophysical Union
    American Institute of Physics
    American Medical Association
    American Meteorological Society
    American Physical Society
    American Public Health Association
    American Quaternary Association
    American Institute of Biological Sciences
    American Society of Agronomy
    American Society for Microbiology
    American Society of Plant Biologists
    American Statistical Association
    Association of Ecosystem Research Centers
    Botanical Society of America
    Crop Science Society of America
    Ecological Society of America
    Federation of American Scientists
    Geological Society of America
    National Association of Geoscience Teachers
    Natural Science Collections Alliance
    Organization of Biological Field Stations
    Society of American Foresters
    Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
    Society of Systematic Biologists
    Soil Science Society of America
    Australian Coral Reef Society
    Australian Medical Association
    Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
    Engineers Australia
    Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies
    Geological Society of Australia
    British Antarctic Survey
    Institute of Biology, UK
    Royal Meteorological Society, UK
    Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences
    Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
    European Federation of Geologists
    European Geosciences Union
    European Physical Society
    European Science Foundation
    International Association for Great Lakes Research
    International Union for Quaternary Research
    International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
    Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
    World Federation of Public Health Associations
    World Health Organization
    World Meteorological Organization

    0 Comments:

    Post a Comment

    << Home