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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15052503/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- The overwhelming evidence of human-caused climate change documents both current
impacts with significant costs and extraordinary future risks to society and natural systems. The
scientific community has convened conferences, published reports, spoken out at forums and
proclaimed, through statements by virtually every national scientific academy and relevant major
scientific organization — including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
— that climate change puts the well-being of people of all nations at risk.
Surveys show that many Americans think climate change is still a topic of significant scientific
disagreement.i Thus, it is important and increasingly urgent for the public to know there is now a
high degree of agreement among climate scientists that human-caused climate change is real.
Moreover, while the public is becoming aware that climate change is increasing the likelihood of
certain local disasters, many people do not yet understand that there is a small, but real chance of
abrupt, unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts on people in
the United States and around the world.
It is not the purpose of this paper to explain why this disconnect between scientific
knowledge and public perception has occurred. Nor are we seeking to provide yet another extensive
review of the scientific evidence for climate change. Instead, we present key messages for every
American about climate change:
1. Climate scientists agree: climate change is happening here and now. Based on wellestablished
evidence, about 97% of climate scientists have concluded that human-caused climate
change is happening. This agreement is documented not just by a single study, but by a converging
stream of evidence over the past two decades from surveys of scientists, content analyses of peerreviewed
studies, and public statements issued by virtually every membership organization of experts
in this field. Average global temperature has increased by about 1.4˚ F over the last 100 years. Sea
level is rising, and some types of extreme events – such as heat waves and heavy precipitation events – are happening more frequently. Recent scientific findings indicate that climate change is likely
responsible for the increase in the intensity of many of these events in recent years.
2. We are at risk of pushing our climate system toward abrupt, unpredictable, and
potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts. Earth’s climate is on a path to
warm beyond the range of what has been experienced over the past millions of years.ii The range of
uncertainty for the warming along the current emissions path is wide enough to encompass massively
disruptive consequences to societies and ecosystems: as global temperatures rise, there is a real risk,
however small, that one or more critical parts of the Earth’s climate system will experience abrupt,
unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes. Disturbingly, scientists do not know how much
warming is required to trigger such changes to the climate system.
3. The sooner we act, the lower the risk and cost. And there is much we can do. Waiting
to take action will inevitably increase costs, escalate risk, and foreclose options to address the risk.
The CO2 we produce accumulates in Earth’s atmosphere for decades, centuries, and longer. It is not
like pollution from smog or wastes in our lakes and rivers, where levels respond quickly to the effects
of targeted policies. The effects of CO2 emissions cannot be reversed from one generation to the next
until there is a large- scale, cost-effective way to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Moreover, as emissions continue and warming increases, the risk increases.
By making informed choices now, we can reduce risks for future generations and ourselves,
and help communities adapt to climate change. People have responded successfully to other major
environmental challenges such as acid rain and the ozone hole with benefits greater than costs, and
scientists working with economists believe there are ways to manage the risks of climate change
while balancing current and future economic prosperity.
As scientists, it is not our role to tell people what they should do or must believe about the
rising threat of climate change. But we consider it to be our responsibility as professionals to ensure,
to the best of our ability, that people understand what we know: human-caused climate change is happening, we face risks of abrupt, unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes, and
responding now will lower the risk and cost of taking action.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
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