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According to University of Illinois, the recent survey tried to overcome criticism of earlier attempts to gauge the view of earth scientists on global warming and the human impact factor. Doran and Kendall Zimmerman sought the opinion of the most complete list of earth scientists they could find, contacting more than 10,200 experts around the world listed in the 2007 edition of the American Geological Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments.Experts in academia and government research centers were e-mailed invitations to participate in the on-line poll conducted by the website questionpro.com. Only those invited could participate and computer IP addresses of participants were recorded and used to prevent repeat voting. Questions used were reviewed by a polling expert who checked for bias in phrasing, such as suggesting an answer by the way a question was worded. The nine-question survey was short, taking just a few minutes to complete.
Two questions were key: have mean global temperatures risen compared to pre-1800s levels, and has human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures.About 90 percent of the scientists agreed with the first question and 82 percent the second.
According to ScienceDaily, in analyzing responses by sub-groups, Doran found that climatologists who are active in research showed the strongest consensus on the causes of global warming, with 97 percent agreeing humans play a role. Petroleum geologists were among the biggest doubters, with only 47 believing in human involvement. 64 percent of meteorologiss believe humans have had a part to play in Earth’s warming.
60% of the general public believe humans are responsible for a warming planet and resultant changes in climate.
The difference between the beliefs of climatologists and meteorologists is attributed to the fact that meteorologists work in or study relatively short periods of earth’s history, whereas climatologists work on a much larger time canvas.
Professor Doran was not surprised by the near-unanimous agreement by climatologists."They're the ones who study and publish on climate science. So I guess the take-home message is, the more you know about the field of climate science, the more you're likely to believe in global warming and humankind's contribution to it."
Peter Doran and Kendall Zimmerman conclude that "the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes." The challenge now, they write, is how to effectively communicate this to policy makers and to a public that continues to mistakenly perceive debate among scientists.
Despite well financed attempts at obfuscation by anti-anti-global warming groups such as The George Marshall Institute (an Exxon-funded DC-based group that have become a shameful smear on a great man’s name) according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this era of global warming "is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin" and "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence of the global climate."
As increased resources are applied by more thoughtful forces to communicate what global warming is, why it is and what we need to do to fix it, one should expect to see continued acceptance of the logic inherent in the idea that when you take carbon out of the ground, turn it into a gas and pump it into the atmosphere at the rates that we have since the mid-1800s, the biosphere simply can’t adjust fast enough and you get a warmer planet.
This recent survey, as with many others, continues to establish that there is no real Family Feud. Survey Says: Most Scientist Agree (especially those not taking money or owing their careers to fossil fuel producers), global warming is real and anthropogenic.
Warming Is Real, Survey Says. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 1, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/01/090119210532.htm
