Debunking Some Myths about Climate Change - When a subject is very topical, it is almost always associated with numerous myths. This is what is happening to the climate change that, surprisingly, increasingly circulating myths that are widespread in the population, more than what would be expected if one takes into account the scientific evidence that is currently available.
One of those urban legends says that scientists do not agree on what is causing climate change, ie, they do not know what is primarily responsible for the widespread evidence of global temperature increase and therefore there is no consensus by the scientific community on this issue.
Also, I myself have come to listen on more than one occasion that it is false that climate change is caused by man and it is a strategy by countries that preach. Of course, be wary input such as categorical statements that are not supported by any empirical evidence, and in this case when there are quite conclusive scientific results that support the opposite.
I think it goes without saying that climate change is more than evident. We can observe some of its consequences, such as the rise in global average temperature or melting.
Although the slight increase of the thermometer may seem laughable, as everything is finely regulated by temperature, any variation that seems very minimal could mean huge changes in ecosystems to the point that it could reach the point of no return.
Today it is known where the point of no return, as all these processes is too complex to keep them all in mind when performing a calculation.
If it continues in this way, is expected to grow sea level, droughts occur, extreme weather events, serious economic losses, mass migration, species extinction, loss of resources, the further rise of infectious diseases and a greater number of deaths associated with heat stroke.
All this can be summarized in one word: chaos. Note that Spain is very vulnerable to climate change because its location, as it is surrounded by sea, and by their socioeconomic characteristics.
How does the scientific community about the main cause of climate change?
Given this widespread belief that the scientific community does not know what to expect on the overall heating, a dozen researchers from three continents , including John Cook, who works in public broadcasting issues in the Global Change Institute at the University depends of Queensland in Australia, and Sarah Green, Professor and Chair of Chemistry at Michigan Technological University ( Michigan Tech ) in Houghton ( USA ), have conducted an extensive analysis of findings of academic articles on the scientific research of the past 20 years on climate change .
Both John Cook and Sarah Green have expressed concern about the large size of these myths among the population. Sarah Green believes very necessary to carry out this research to remove once and for all the myths that try to hide “clear scientific evidence that humans are changing the planet’s atmosphere”.
The team analyzed the findings of academic scientific articles 12,000 (a figure overwhelming) on climate change, each approved by independent committees and published in academic journals between 1991 and 2011. Subsequently, we conducted a survey of the authors of these articles to verify their opinion regarding the results obtained.
What were the results?
Well, the results were very conclusive: over 97% of scientists believe that human activity is the primary cause of climate change and also the same percentage of authors stated that their opinion is supported by their work. This leads to two conclusions:
The overwhelming amount of 97% to the conclusion that there is a general consensus in the scientific community that affirms that man is primarily responsible for climate change.
Moreover, we must also take into account that not all scientists believe it is due to human activity. Although being a minority (about 3%), also makes it clear that there are alternative minority theories that explain climate change from a non-anthropogenic perspective (relative to humans).
They may or may not be right this 97%, which is another separate issue, but what if it is clearly demonstrated is that the scientific community is divided on the causes of climate change, which is not as extensive explains the idea that Scientists do not know what to think about it, or that many of the scientists believe that the human being is behind this rise in temperature.
In short, the position of the vast majority of the scientific community could not be more clear: climate change is caused by humans. Hopefully, therefore, that this study will dismantle this global warming misperception which, again, is widespread in the population.