A new study of over four thousand academic papers taking a position on climate change found the same results that were published in a similar study nearly ten years ago: over 97% of academic climate researchers believe climate change is man-made. Only 0.7% disputed the idea. Yet, as noted in the article, a recent Pew poll found only %42 of Americans agree with the science.
Yes, you are, big guy…
The reasons for this disparity are numerous but one of the obvious parties due blame is the media and its attempt to be objective on the subject. If they put on one of the 97% of scientists believing the truth, they feel the need to put on one of the 0.7% in an effort to show no favoritism. The time has come for this to stop. The most glaring problem with this action is how dangerous the situation is and how much its worsening, as the Earth reached its recent carbon dioxide milestone which hasn’t been seen in 3 million years.
This begs the question: if over 97% of experts in a field told you something where your life was at stake and less than 1% told you something different, who would you believe? Let’s take some random examples:
- If you were jumping out of a plane and 97% of sky diving instructors told you your chute was not packed right and wouldn’t open on the way down, would you jump?
- If you were riding down a winding mountain road and 97% of mechanics told you your brakes would fail halfway down, would you drive?
- If you were running from a giant boulder after stealing an ancient artifact from a temple in Peru and 97% of boulder dodgers told you to keep running instead of trying to use a whip to split the boulder in half, would you keep running?
- If you were trying to kick a football being held by a “friend” when 97% of your real friends told you the ball would be taken away as you tried to kick it and you would land on your head, would you still try to boot it?
- If you were interacting with a doctor about a rash of stomach viruses and 97% of people informed you his name was not Shirley, surely you would not call him by that name, right?
The point being rational people pretty much never go against these types of percentages when it comes to their personal health yet we seem to be doing it when it comes to the long-term health of everyone. It’s time to change our collective tune on climate change and accept the consensus of the 97% over the seemingly wild ramblings of the less than 1%.
