SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE
The consensus of the scientific community is "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. . . . the Fourth Assessment Report finds that human actions are "very likely" the cause of global warming, meaning a 90% or greater probability."
1. As a matter of FACT, "consensus" IS used regarding scientific judgment:
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Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the scientific method. Nevertheless, consensus may be based on both scientific arguments and the scientific method.[1]
Consensus is normally achieved through communication at conferences, the publication process, replication (reproducible results by others) and peer review. These lead to a situation in which those within the discipline can often recognize such a consensus where it exists, but communicating to outsiders that consensus has been reached can be difficult, because the 'normal' debates through which science progresses may seem to outsiders as contestation.[2]
Scientific consensus may be invoked in popular or political debate on subjects that are controversial within the public sphere but which may not be controversial within the scientific community, such as evolution[3][4] or the claimed linkage of MMR vaccinations and autism.[2]
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2. Further, as a matter of fact, SCIENTISTS use the term "consensus" regarding climate change:
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Scientific consensus on Climate Change
A question that frequently arises in popular discussion of climate change is whether there is a scientific consensus on climate change.[125] Several scientific organizations have explicitly used the term "consensus" in their statements:
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006: "The conclusions in this statement reflect the scientific consensus represented by, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the Joint National Academies' statement."[32]
US National Academy of Sciences: "In the judgment of most climate scientists, Earth’s warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. ... On climate change, [the National Academies’ reports] have assessed consensus findings on the science..."[126]
Joint Science Academies' statement, 2005: "We recognise the international scientific consensus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)."[127]
Joint Science Academies' statement, 2001: "The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) represents the consensus of the international scientific community on climate change science. We recognise IPCC as the world’s most reliable source of information on climate change and its causes, and we endorse its method of achieving this consensus."[13]
American Meteorological Society, 2003: "The nature of science is such that there is rarely total agreement among scientists. Individual scientific statements and papers—the validity of some of which has yet to be assessed adequately—can be exploited in the policy debate and can leave the impression that the scientific community is sharply divided on issues where there is, in reality, a strong scientific consensus.... IPCC assessment reports are prepared at approximately five-year intervals by a large international group of experts who represent the broad range of expertise and perspectives relevant to the issues. The reports strive to reflect a consensus evaluation of the results of the full body of peer-reviewed research.... They provide an analysis of what is known and not known, the degree of consensus, and some indication of the degree of confidence that can be placed on the various statements and conclusions."[128] -
[END QUOTE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change#Scientific_consensus]
3. As a matter of FACT, scientific consensus is irrefutable. The list of concurring scientific organizations includes:
American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.org/sci_pol/positions/climate_change2008.shtml
American Physical Society: http://www.aps.org/policy/statements/07_1.cfm
The Royal Society: http://royalsociety.org/policy/publications/2001/science-climate-change/
European Academy of Sciences and Arts: http://royalsociety.org/policy/publications/2001/science-climate-change/
American Association for the Advancement of Science: http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/aaas_climate_statement.pdf
American Chemical Society: http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/aaas_climate_statement.pdf
American Institute of Physics: http://www.aip.org/fyi/2004/042.html
Australian Institute of Physics: http://www.aip.org.au/about.php
American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.org/sci_pol/positions/climate_change2008.shtml
American Public Health Association: http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1351
Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences: http://geoscience.ca/_ARCHIVE_jan7_2011/climatechange.html
American Medical Association: http://www.ama.com.au/node/4442
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/toolkit/report_web.pdf
American Statistical Association: http://www.amstat.org/news/climatechange.cfm
American Association of Petroleum Geologists: http://dpa.aapg.org/gac/statements/climatechange.pdf
American Association of State Climatologists: http://www.stateclimate.org/publications/files/aascclimatepolicy.pdf
NASA: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080619_climatereport.html
4. As a matter of FACT, dissenting opinion is relegated to the fringe:
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No scientific body of national or international standing has maintained a dissenting opinion; the last was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, which in 2007 updated its 1999 statement rejecting the likelihood of human influence on recent climate with its current non-committal position.[2][3] Some other organizations, primarily those focusing on geology, also hold non-committal positions.
[END QUOTE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change ]