Statements on Global Climate Change From Respected Scientific Institutions

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Statements on Global Climate Change From
Respected Scientific Institutions

• Crispin H. Pierce, Ph.D.
• February 2006

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Preface

• The role of health scientists is to provide
  objective information (risk assessment) upon
  which public health decisions (risk management)
  can be made.
• This document is intended to share the findings
  of respected scientific institutions on three
  questions 1) Is global warming occurring? 2) Are
  human activities a major cause? and 3) Is this a
  serious human health threat?

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• The list of institutions was subjectively
  determined on the basis of consistent, objective
  reporting of scientific findings by the author,
  who has 33 years of education, research and
  experience in environmental public health.
• Institutions were first chosen, then position
  statements from each institution were sought.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
  Administration, and National Aeronautics and
  Space Administration were not chosen due to
  recent evidence that information from these
  institutions has been politically shaped.

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List of Institutions

• National Academy of Sciences
• American Association for the Advancement of
  Science / Science
• American Chemical Society / Chemical and
  Engineering News
• American Geophysical Union
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• US National Research Council
• Journal of the American Medical Association
• US Environmental Protection Agency
• World Health Organization
• Woods Hole Research Center

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National Academy of Sciences

• Climate change is real. There will always be
  uncertainty in understanding a system as complex
  as the worlds climate. However there is
  nowstrong evidence that significant global
  warming is occurring. The evidence comes from
  direct measurements of rising surface air
  temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures
  and from phenomena such as increases in average
  global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and
  changes to many physical and biological systems.
  It is likely that most of the warming in recent
  decades can be attributed to human activities.
  This warming has already led to changes in the
  Earth's climate.

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American Association for the Advancement of
Science

• As we add greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide
  and methane to the atmosphere, they form a
  blanket that intercepts infrared radiation as it
  leaves Earth. This "greenhouse effect" has been
  well understood for more than a century. Models
  that have tracked average global temperature over
  its fluctuations during the past 10 centuries
  show that it has followed natural events (such as
  volcanic eruptions and variations in solar flux)
  quite well up until the 20th century. Then it
  entered a rapidly rising phase, associated with
  an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from
  its preindustrial level of 280 parts per million
  (ppm) to the present level of 380 ppm--a value
  still accelerating as we continue business as
  usual. That's why the Intergovernmental Panel on
  Climate Change now attributes much of the present
  warming trend to human activity.
  Editor-in-chief Donald Kennedy, Science

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American Chemical Society

• The NASA scientists also maintain that the link
  between the record temperatures and human
  activities is clear. Recent warming coincides
  with rapid growth of human-made greenhouse
  gases, they write. Climate models show that the
  rate of warming is consistent with expectations.
  The observed rapid warming thus gives urgency to
  discussions about how to slow greenhouse gas
  emissions. Rudy Baum, Editor-in-chief, Chemical
  and Engineering News

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American Geophysical Union

• Human activities are increasingly altering the
  Earth's climate. These effects add to natural
  influences that have been present over Earth's
  history. Scientific evidence strongly indicates
  that natural influences cannot explain the rapid
  increase in global near-surface temperatures
  observed during the second half of the 20th
  century.

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• An increasing body of observations gives a
  collective picture of a warming world and other
  changes in the climate system.
• The global average surface temperature has
  increased over the 20th century by about 0.6C.
• Temperatures have risen during the past four
  decades in the lowest 8 kilometres of the
  atmosphere.

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• Snow cover and ice extent have decreased.
• Global average sea level has risen and ocean
  heat content has increased.
• Some important aspects of climate appear not to
  have changed.
• Emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols due
  to human activities continue to alter the
  atmosphere in ways that are expected to affect
  the climate.

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• Concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases
  and their radiative forcing have continued to
  increase as a result of human activities.
• Natural factors have made small contributions to
  radiative forcing over the past century.
• There is new and stronger evidence that most of
  the warming observed over the last 50 years is
  attributable to human activities.

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• Anthropogenic climate change will persist for
  many centuries.

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US National Research Council

• Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's
  atmosphere as a result of human activities,
  causing surface air temperatures and subsurface
  ocean temperatures to rise. Temperatures are, in
  fact, rising. The changes observed over the last
  several decades are likely mostly due to human
  activities, but we cannot rule out that some
  significant part of these changes is also a
  reflection of natural variability. Human-induced
  warming and associated sea level rises are
  expected to continue through the 21st century.

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• The IPCC's conclusion that most of the observed
  warming of the last 50 years is likely to have
  been due to the increase in greenhouse gas
  concentrations accurately reflects the current
  thinking of the scientific community on this
  issue.

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Journal of the American Medical Association

• This issue of MSJAMA brings together several
  lines of published evidence that global warming
  has emerged as a public health challenge
  requiring serious, concerted action. Jonathan
  Patz and Mahmooda Khaliq survey the immediate
  threats posed by climate change as well as some
  of the more insidious ones. Kent Bransford and
  Janet Lai find grounds for a common approach to
  both climate change and air pollution. Stephen
  Liang and colleagues describe technologies that
  can help track the spread of climate-sensitive
  infectious disease vectors. Finally, William
  Burns discusses public policy tools to respond
  and adapt to these challenges.
• it is not too late and none too soon for the
  health care community to advocate policies that
  wean us from fossil fuels and ultimately mitigate
  the extent of human-induced climate change. John
  F. Staropoli

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US Environmental Protection Agency

• Scientists know for certain that human
  activities are changing the composition of
  Earth's atmosphere. Increasing levels of
  greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2 ), in
  the atmosphere since pre-industrial times have
  been well documented. There is no doubt this
  atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other
  greenhouse gases is largely the result of human
  activities.

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• It's well accepted by scientists that greenhouse
  gases trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and
  tend to warm the planet. By increasing the levels
  of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, human
  activities are strengthening Earth's natural
  greenhouse effect. The key greenhouse gases
  emitted by human activities remain in the
  atmosphere for periods ranging from decades to
  centuries.

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• A warming trend of about 1F has been recorded
  since the late 19th century. Warming has occurred
  in both the northern and southern hemispheres,
  and over the oceans. Confirmation of 20th-century
  global warming is further substantiated by
  melting glaciers, decreased snow cover in the
  northern hemisphere and even warming below
  ground.

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World Health Organization

• Global warming is one of the most serious
  threats to our environment.

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Woods Hole Research Center

• it is certain that we have been experiencing
  increasing numbers of climatic events
  unprecedented in the human experience. It is also
  certain that many of the greenhouse gases,
  including carbon dioxide and methane, have
  lengthy residence times in the atmosphere and
  that we will continue to be affected for years or
  even centuries to come by the atmospheric burden
  we are creating today.

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Conclusions

• Each of these institutions has stated, explicitly
  or implicitly that,
• The Earths temperature is rising
• Human generation of greenhouse gases,
  deforestation, and land uses are a major cause of
  temperature increase and
• This increase is a serious threat to human health.