Monday, January 4, 2010

Do you believe in climate change?

I increasingly get asked by non-scientist friends "Do scientists really believe in climate change?". Consequently, I am trying to be better informed. I found this Summary for Policymakers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change helpful. To me the evidence is overwhelming. The figure below is taken from that report.


I also liked this presentation by Sir John Houghton because it gave a succinct summary of some of the history. He is an evangelical Christian and it is worth reading the Wikipedia page on him, which describes his views on being a Christian and a scientist, and the responsibility of Christians to care for the environment.


1 comment:

  1. Hi Ross,

    Thank you for giving me this link via Mike Bird's blog.

    I have seen similar data/graphs but am not really convinced.

    If the global average surface temperature is rising and the sea levels are rising is the acidity of the seas (ie lower pH) really rising. There must surely be a dilution effect of increaded sea volume and reduced dissolution of carbon dioxide due to rising temperature.

    You blog looks very interesting I will try to look at it from time to time.

    cheers, sujomo

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