John Cook discusses the 'consensus on consensus'

John Cook - a friend of
Beneath the Wisteria.

Climate activists frequently bump into people who don’t know about climate change, consider it a scientific matter of no import to them, or retreat to refuting it as a myth and something about which the only consensus is among those advocating its existence.

A Climate Communication Fellow for the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, John Cook, who is also a critical part of the “Skeptical Science” website, has thought deeply about this matter for many years.

On the website he says: “Expert consensus is a powerful thing. People know we don’t have the time or capacity to learn about everything, and so we frequently defer to the conclusions of experts.

“It’s why we visit doctors when we’re ill. The same is true of climate change: most people defer to the expert consensus of climate scientists. Crucially, as we note in our paper:

Public perception of the scientific consensus has been found to be a gateway belief, affecting other climate beliefs and attitudes including policy support.

“That’s why those who oppose taking action to curb climate change have engaged in a misinformation campaign to deny the existence of the expert consensus. They’ve been largely successful, as the public badly underestimate the expert consensus, in what we call the ‘consensus gap.’ Only 16% of Americans realize that the consensus is above 90%,” he says.

Check out what, John Cook has to say on his website, Skeptical Science - “Consensus on Consensus.”