The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has finally accepted the science
of climate change. Polls show that the vast majority of US weather-casters do not believe in the science supporting the existence of anthropogenic climate change. According to a 2011 survey by George Mason University, only 19 percent of weather-casters believe climate change is “mostly” human-induced. The AMS statement may change the minds of some of these woefully misinformed people who bring us weather news.
At the end of August, AMS finally acknowledged that there is a scientific consensus. They released an official position statement which said that climate change is a reality and it is being caused by human activity.
In a statement they acknowledge increases in global average air and sea temperatures, the widespread melting of snow and ice, melting glaciers, heavy precipitation, and the rising of globally averaged sea level (globally averaged sea level has risen by about seven inches in the 20th century).
As the statement puts it, “Warming of the climate system now is unequivocal, according to many different kinds of evidence.” The statement details the effects of climate change, including the fact that the 10 warmest years in the global temperature records up to 2011 have occurred since 1997, and 2005 and 2010 were the warmest years in more than a century of global records. The US has seen twice as many record daily high temperatures compared to record daily low temperatures in the first decade of the 21st century.
The statement indicates that if “future technologies and policies” can achieve a “rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions…this would greatly lessen future global warming and its impacts.” Significant reductions in GHGs are possible if the business world, governments and private citizens come together around the science of climate change.
© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
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