Climate scientists say that the global warming debate in America, which focuses on whether the earth is actually warming as a result of human's impact, is not up for debate, and we should be focusing on the magnitude of these apparent effects and how to counter them.
"Scientists are inherently skeptical," Lonnie Thompson, a paleoclimatologist at Ohio State University, told Inside Climate News. "After enough evidence and observation, though, you have to start to accept findings. That is what happened with climate change. This wasn't a rash conclusion."
"There is not any serious debate about whether anthropogenic climate change is happening," says Daniel Sarewitz, co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University and a professor of science and society. "Scientists are certain about that, and it is unfortunate that the national debate is lagging so far behind."
The public and political discourse on global warming was framed by the 2007 report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which concluded that climate change is occurring and human activity is the cause. That seminal report, and the subsequent coverage and debate, split the country into two partisan camps, with Democrats generally accepting the scientific consensus and Republicans questioning or flat-out denying it.
So, if climate scientists are convinced that the Earth is warming faster than expected, then why aren't more speaking out?
Researchers interviewed in Inside Climate News said many have retreated into silence to avoid the small but vocal chorus of climate skeptics.
There are still many conclusions less understood in climate science, and long-term changes in solar activity and their effects on the climate system are not well known. Few doubt that sea levels will rise, but how fast and by how much is hotly contested.
While none of these undermine the consensus that climate change is human caused, say researchers, any dissension helps fuel skeptic's anti-science perceptions.
A number of prominent U.S. climate scientists who identify themselves as Republican say their attempts in recent years to educate the GOP leadership on the scientific evidence of man-made climate change have been futile. Now, many have given up trying and the few who continue notice very little change after speaking with politicians and their aides.
"No GOP candidates or policymakers want to touch the issue, and those of us trying to educate them are left frustrated," Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a registered Republican, told InsideClimate News. "Climate change has become a third rail in politics."
