Doubts dispelled immediately by scientific and practical evidence

Doubt about climate change has at times assaulted my thinking until that momentary skepticism is completely dispelled by further evidence, both scientific and practical.

That scientific evidence has almost total support around the world and yet in being true to the skeptism their training the demands, most scientists appear reluctant to lay the responsibility for climate change at the feet of humanity.

In what is a strange contradiction, climate scientists happily explain the science behind climate change, but often appear reluctant to be more emphatic about the risk it poses to humanity.

Writing in the New York Times, a professor of the history of science at Harvard and the author, Naomi Oreskes, has lamented this problem.

Her story - “Playing Dumb on Climate Change” – says:

“We are now seeing dangerous effects worldwide, even as we approach a rise of only 1 degree Celsius.

“The evidence is mounting that scientists have underpredicted the threat. Perhaps this is another reason — along with our polarized politics and the effect of fossil-fuel lobbying — we have underreacted to the reality, now unfolding before our eyes, of dangerous climate change.”