How many times have you glibly been told that 97% of scientists agree that man made CO2 is responsible for global warming and climate change? President Obama tweeted it not so long ago, Sen. Kerry used that statistic and so did the Pope. I wonder if any of the three of them realized where that statistic comes from and just how meaningless that really is?
There are two sources for the 97% and neither of them are very compelling. One was a two question survey sent to over 10,000 Earth Scientist asking two set up questions. The first asked if temperatures had risen in the last 100 years and the second asked if man had an impact on that temperature rise. Now only about 3500 surveys were completed and of them only 79 were completed by people who were ‘climate scientists’ – whatever that is. Of those 79 climate scientists, 77 answered yes to both questions – or 97%. I would have too and I am in the 97% according to the questions asked – isn’t everybody?
The other source of the statistics was a survey of peer reviewed papers by a University Professor in Australia. Again, if you actually read the paper he wrote you won’t be overly impressed. Actually only 37% of the papers suggested man made CO2 as a cause but by fudging the way papers were included or excluded, he managed to make it 97%. Statistics… damn lies and statistics.
Today, I signed a petition and I want to tell you about it.
The purpose of the Petition Project is to demonstrate that the claim of “settled science” and an overwhelming “consensus” in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climatological damage is wrong. No such consensus or settled science exists. As indicated by the petition text and signatory list, a very large number of American scientists reject this hypothesis.
Publicists at the United Nations, Mr. Al Gore, and their supporters frequently claim that only a few “skeptics” remain – skeptics who are still unconvinced about the existence of a catastrophic human-caused global warming emergency.
It is evident that 31,487 Americans with university degrees in science – including 9,029 PhDs, are not “a few.” Moreover, from the clear and strong petition statement that they have signed, it is evident that these 31,487 American scientists are not “skeptics.”
These scientists are instead convinced that the human-caused global warming hypothesis is without scientific validity and that government action on the basis of this hypothesis would unnecessarily and counterproductively damage both human prosperity and the natural environment of the Earth.
As of today, make that 31,488 Americans with science degrees and 9,030 PhDs.