No Need to Panic About Global Warming

Climate Change, Anthropocene, & Associated Issues

The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article. A candidate for public office in any contemporary democracy may have to consider what, if anything, to do about global warming. Candidates should understand that the oft-repeated claim that nearly all scientists demand that something dramatic be done to stop global warming is not true. In fact, a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed. In September, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever, a supporter of President Obama in the last election, publicly resigned from the American Physical Society (APS) with a letter that stated that he did not renew because he cannot live with the [APS policy] statement... ...

The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.... In the APS it is OK to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible? In spite of a multi-decade international campaign to enforce the message that increasing amounts of the pollutant carbon dioxide will destroy civilization, large numbers of scientists, many very prominent, share the opinions of Dr. Giaever. And the number of scientific heretics is growing with each passing year. The reason is a collection of stubborn scientific facts. The lack of warming for more than a decade, indeed, the smaller-than-predicted warming over the 22 years since the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began issuing projection suggests that computer models have greatly exaggerated how much warming additional CO2 can cause.

Original URL: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366