[peteretep]

I agree, that's my jaw-drop takeaway from it. I assumed it was science skeptisism, rather than simply being misinformed.

[mattmanser]

I wonder if it would be an effective thing in the US to capitalize on that and put up billboards around the country saying something like:

"{0}% of all US scientists believe global warming is real, it is almost entirely man-made and a grave threat to humanity".

Fill in {0} with 95 or whatever the real number would be after a survey.

[subpixel]

Here's an org that is communicating what many scientists believe through language that attempts to bring divided people together to fight a common enemy. They use WWII programs as a touchstone: http://www.theclimatemobilization.org

Their key documents address the issue of how best to tell people something they really don't want to hear, etc: http://www.theclimatemobilization.org/key_documents

Changing people's minds 'for their own good' is a really hairy problem.

[beaconstudios]

you'd want to make that specifically US climate scientists - physicists or geneticists don't have relevant authority on the subject.

[phaemon]

Ok, not geneticists, but radiative transfer is physics. What else would it be?

[beaconstudios]

everything is physics at the fundamental level, but that doesn't make physicists qualified to talk about everything. Climatology is its own field tied to Meteorology - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatology

[phaemon]

I didn't mean that I'd expect a physicist to understand every part of Climatology. I meant that I'd expect any competent physicist to understand the basic principles of the greenhouse effect, because that part is physics.

[beaconstudios]

of course, but my understanding is that the debate isn't over whether the climate is changing, but whether it is driven primarily by human activity or a natural periodic system. A general physicist is probably not well placed to answer that question.

[peteretep]

It's still something like 97% though

[dexterdog]

Source? Please don't say Cook.

[peteretep]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveys_of_scientists'_views...

[basurihn]

Yes. Cook.