97 percent, 97 hours, 97 climate scientists
By Phil Plait
9 September 2014 (Slate) – Global warming is real. Climate change is occurring faster than any time in recorded history. Humans dumping carbon dioxide into the air is to blame.
In the scientific community, those statements are not controversial at all. A solid 97 percent of climate scientists doing active research into the matter agree on them. Politically, though, it’s a different story. Only about half the American public understand global warming is man-made, and only a fraction of them know that there is overwhelming scientific consensus on it. To raise both ratios, the wonderful website Skeptical Science has started a great campaign: “97 Hours of Consensus.” Every hour, for just over four days, a cartoon caricature of a different climate scientist will be posted along with a short, pithy quotation about the current understanding on global warming. The campaign started Sunday morning (Sept. 7), so it’s well along now. [more]
