In a Washington Post Op-Ed, Alan Leshner hammers the nonsense from Sarah Palin:
Don't be fooled about climate science. In April, 1994 -- long after scientists had clearly demonstrated the addictive quality and devastating health impacts of cigarette smoking -- seven chief executives of major tobacco companies denied the evidence, swearing under oath that nicotine was not addictive.
Now, the American public is again being subjected to those kinds of
denials, this time about global climate change. While former Alaska
governor Sarah Palin wrote in her Dec. 9 op-ed
that she did not deny the "reality of some changes in climate," she
distorted the clear scientific evidence that Earth's climate is
changing, largely as a result of human behaviors. She also badly
confused the concepts of daily weather changes and long-term climate
trends when she wrote that "while we recognize the occurrence of these
natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance
that man's activities cause weather changes." Her statement
inaccurately suggests that short-term weather fluctuations must be
consistent with long-term climate patterns. And it is the long-term
patterns that are a cause for concern.
Climate-change science is clear: The concentration of atmospheric
carbon dioxide -- derived mostly from the human activities of
fossil-fuel burning and deforestation -- stands at 389 parts per
million (ppm). We know from studying ancient Antarctic ice cores that
this concentration is higher than it has been for at least the past
650,000 years. Exhaustive measurements tell us that atmospheric carbon
dioxide is rising by 2 ppm every year and that the global temperature
has increased by about 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century.
Multiple lines of other evidence, including reliable thermometer
readings since the 1880s, reveal a clear warming trend. The broader
impacts of climate change range from rapidly melting glaciers and
rising sea levels to shifts in species ranges.
via www.washingtonpost.com
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