97%
of scientists believe climate change is caused by humans, study finds
The
study involved the analysis of a number of other previous studies on
the scientific community's attitude towards man-made climate change
Doug Bolton
97 per cent of
scientists agree that climate change is caused by humans, an American
study has claimed.
Significantly, the
researchers behind the study also found that the more knowledge of
climate science these scientists have, the more likely they are to
believe in human-caused climate change.
The study, published
recently in the Environmental Research Letters journal, was conducted
by a team from Michigan Technological University.
It was compiled
through the analysis of seven previous independent studies of
scientists' opinions on climate change, essentially making it a
meta-study of a number of different meta-studies.
Dr. Sarah A. Green,
a chemistry professor at Michigan Tech who led the study, explained:
"What's important is that this is not just one study -- it's the
consensus of multiple studies."
Co-author Naomi
Oreskes, a professor in the history of science at Harvard University,
said: "By compiling and analysing all of this research...we've
established a consistent picture with high levels of scientific
agreement among climate experts."
According to Green,
the main problem with some of the countless climate change surveys is
that they can be biased towards respondents with certain opinions, or
targeted at people who lack expertise in climate science.
She also believes
the wider public have a "very skewed" view of the sheer
levels of acceptance of man-made climate change theories in the
scientific community.
Global warming to be
far worse than anyone had predicted, new cloud analysis study says
Oil companies
including Exxon and Shell spent £81m 'obstructing' climate laws in
2015, NGO says
Research shows that
only 12 per cent of the public in the US realises there is such
strong agreement among scientists, and the one of the main arguments
used by climate change deniers is the supposed lack of scientific
consensus on the issue. People who believe scientists are still torn
over climate change are also less likely to believe in the need for
urgent solutions.
As the study says,
part of the problem is down to certain groups "conflating the
opinion of non-experts with experts and assuming that lack of
affirmation equals dissent."
Green points out
that although skepticism and an urge to dig deeper into statistics is
a key part of the scientific process, "climate change denial is
not about scientific skepticism."
The world's leaders
appear to agree with the scientific community. At the UN Climate
Change Conference at the end of 2015, 195 countries unanimously
agreed to reduce their carbon output and work to keep global warming
to "well below" 2 degrees over pre-industrial levels
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