Scientific Consensus on Global Warming and Need for Action
The scientific consensus on global warming is now well-established: the earth's atmosphere is warming and emissions of greenhouse gas pollutants are contributing to that warming. The globe will continue to warm as the concentrations of these pollutants continue to accumulate in the atmosphere. This consensus is reflected in the official statements of virtually all professional and scientific organizations focusing on the earth and its environment. Most notable are the statements of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences was formed by an Act of Congress and signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863. As mandated in its Act of Incorporation, the Academy serves to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government. The Academy is governed by its approximately 2,000 members, of whom more than 200 have won Nobel Prizes. Members are elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research; election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer.
The Academy's service to government has become so essential that Congress and the White House have issued legislation and executive orders over the years that reaffirm its unique role. In 2005, a White House spokesperson stated: "The National Academy of Sciences is the gold standard of objective scientific assessment."
In a U.S. National Academies Report commissioned by President Bush in 2001, it was stated that:
"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) predicted temperature increase is sensitive to … future concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols. Hence, national policy decisions made now and in the longer-term future will influence the extent of any damage suffered by vulnerable human populations and ecosystems."
Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10139.html, 2001
In a joint statement with 10 other National Academies of Science, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences stated:
"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions."
Joint Statement of Science Academies:
Global Response to Climate Change, 2005