NAS Recognizes Global Warming as Established Theory | Environment/Nature |Axisoflogic.com

Last year marked an important event for people fighting against global warming and climate change. The US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) acknowledged the validity of theories related to the two phenomena, and put them on par with such theories as Earth's age, the Big Bang and evolution.

Climate change is affecting the entire world, regardless whether US Senators like it or not. Image credits: Dave Pape / NASA data

These are some of the most important sets of data by which modern life unfolds. Charles Darwin's theory on evolution, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity and Newton's theory of gravity are just a few of the tremendously important theories that we use in most aspects of our life.

For many years, climate change deniers – some of them motivated by interests, and other simply manipulated into forming totally wrong opinions about things – have argued that there was no truth to global warming.

Examples included harsh winters in areas that were once spared from such manifestations, and the fact that some glaciers, and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet were growing rather than declining.

Using these arguments to combat global warming is as narrow-minded as possible. Generally speaking, using exceptions to contradict a general trend is just a means of delaying the inevitable, not form opinions.

The reason why this issue has resurfaced is because many climate change deniers are using the snow storms plaguing the United States and other parts of the world as an argument that the planet is not getting warmer. These people are apparently unfamiliar with the concept of seasonal variation.

“The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact,” the NAS said in a statement last year.

“Climate change is a theory as certain as the theory of the Earth’s age (4.5 billion years), the Big Bang Theory, and the theory of evolution,” the highest US science body went on to say.

The statement was made in response to the fact that Sen. James M. Inhofe denounced climate change as a “hoax.” Maybe the top US official should leave scientific issues to scientists, people who actually studies the problems at hand, and have an idea of what they are talking about.

Following the senator's questionable announcement, more than 255 prominent climate scientists signed the NAS conclusions, and published their reply in Science Magazine. Unfortunately, global warming is becoming an increasingly politicized debate, which shouldn't be happening.

The phenomenon affects all regions of the political spectrum. Pacific Institute director Peter Gleick says that deniers (such as the senator) “are typically driven by special interests or dogma, not by an honest effort to provide an alternative theory that credibly satisfies the evidence.”

Publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post rejected the letter, which goes to demonstrate that not even newspapers are bias-free, Daily Galaxy reports.

“Society has two choices. We can ignore the science and hide our heads in the sand and hope we are lucky, or we can act in the public interest to reduce the threat of global climate change quickly and substantively,” the 255 scientists said.

“The good news is that smart and effective actions are possible. But delay must not be an option,” they added, saying that “McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues based on innuendo and guilt by association” need to stop.

The aforementioned senator and his clique were leading efforts to lead prosecutions into the so-called Climategate scandal, a clearly-political maneuver that failed miserably at discrediting global warming proponents, as intended.

Unfortunately, those who released the “incriminatory” emails managed to hijack the Copenhagen climate talks of 2009, essentially delaying any significant measures against climate change by a year.

Self-motivated figures of authority such as Inhofe took it upon themselves to “fix” the situation, and to exploit it for their own use. Thankfully, their political moves failed, and the people know the truth.

Source: Softpedia

For detailed information about the very long scientific record of global warming as an established fact, see video by scientist and renowned historian Naomi Oreskes from 2007 - The American Denial of Global Warming

"Polls show that between one-third and one-half of Americans still believe that there is "no solid" evidence of global warming, or that if warming is happening it can be attributed to natural variability. Others believe that scientists are still debating the point. Join scientist and renowned historian Naomi Oreskes as she describes her investigation into the reasons for such widespread mistrust and misunderstanding of scientific consensus and probes the history of organized campaigns designed to create public doubt and confusion about science. Series: "Perspectives on Ocean Science" [12/2007]"