For GSS Climate Change chapter 10. Excerpt: ...a committee of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest
general scientific society, ... will release a stark report Tuesday on
global warming. The report will warn that the effects of human emissions
of heat-trapping gases are already being felt, that the ultimate
consequences could be dire, and that the window to do something about it
is closing. “The evidence is overwhelming: Levels of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere are rising,” says the report, which was made available
early to The New York Times. “Temperatures are going up. Springs are
arriving earlier. Ice sheets are melting. Sea level is rising. The
patterns of rainfall and drought are changing. Heat waves are getting
worse, as is extreme precipitation. The oceans are acidifying.” ...the
report contains no new science. But the language in the 18-page report,
called “What We Know,”
is sharper, clearer and more accessible than perhaps anything the
scientific community has put out to date. And the association does not
plan to stop with the report. The group, with a membership of 121,200
scientists and science supporters around the world, plans a broad
outreach campaign to put forward accurate information in simple
language. The scientists are essentially trying to use their powers of
persuasion to cut through public confusion over this issue. Polls show
that most Americans are at least somewhat worried about global warming.
But people generally do not understand that the problem is urgent — that
the fate of future generations (not necessarily that far in the future)
is being determined by emission levels now. Moreover, the average
citizen tends to think there is more scientific debate about the basics
than there really is. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/scientists-sound-alarm-on-climate.html. Justin Gillis, New York Times. |
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