I'm no good at science

south west | the environment | opinion/analysis Saturday August 02, 2008 21:54 by boyd

But I know some people who are

Everytime a climate change argument starts on Bristol Indymedia it gets lost in volleys of jargon and flaming rebuttals of the evidence of both sides. This is a classic internet problem, and the reason why face-to-face communication is always preferable.

If you go to the climate camp in Kingsnorth this week you will be able to talk to people who know a lot about the subject and strongly believe that we should act NOW and make BIG changes.

I'm not very good at science.

There. I said it. I got an E in chemistry back when an E meant 'get your sorry ass out of my classroom".

But that doesn't mean you can baffle me with figures, quotes, reports on doubts etc.etc, tons of internet links into contested articles and controverisal reports.

Because I can use the internet too. In the outside world, if I was looking for a straight answer on a scientific study, I would ask friends who had more interest in the subject than me. I did that, and they told me, in the UK, your best bet is the Royal Society.

Here's a link to their (uncontested) wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_society

It opens:
"The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is the oldest such society still in existence. Although a voluntary body, it serves as the academy of sciences of the United Kingdom (in which role it receives £40 million annually from the UK Government).[citation needed] The Royal Society is a member organization of the Science Council."

Its motto comes from a quote - "Not compelled to swear to any master's words" - which I like so much I may very well start using it as my own motto.

In March 2005 it published a paper called "A guide to facts and fictions about climate change"

Here's a link to it
http://royalsociety.org/downloaddoc.asp?id=1630

It's a long read but very worthwhile, as I for one believe that it is a credible source of information.

Here's the starting paragraphs

"It has become fashionable in some parts of the UK media to portray the scientific evidence that has been collected about climate change and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities as an exaggeration. Some articles have claimed that scientists are ignoring uncertainties in our understanding of the climate and the factors that affect it.

Some have questioned the motives of the scientists who have presented the most authoritative assessments of the science of climate change, claiming that they have a vested interest in ‘playing up’ the potential effects that climate change is likely to have.

This document examines twelve misleading arguments (presented in bold typeface) put forward by the opponents of urgent action on climate change and highlights the scientific evidence that exposes their flaws."

It then goes on to 'EXPOSE THE FLAWS' in 12 'MISLEADING' arguments, all of which readers of Bristol Indymedia will be familiar with:
1. The IPCC has become too politicised and does not accurately reflectthe wide range of views within the scientific community.
2. Many scientists do not think that climate change is a problem. Some scientists have signed petitions stating that climate change is not a problem.
3. There is little evidence that global warming is happening or, if it is happening, it is not very much. Some parts of the world are actually becoming cooler.
4. The Earth is getting hotter, but not because of emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities.
5. There is no reliable way of predicting how temperatures will change in the future. The climate is so complex that it is hard to predict what might happen
6. Scientists have been exaggerating the evidence by claiming that individual extreme weather events have been caused by climate change.
7. There is conflicting evidence about whether the ice at the poles is melting and, in fact, it is actually becoming thicker in Antarctica.
8. There is little evidence of a rise in sea level due to global warming. There is no correlation between rises in climate temperature and sea levels.
9, Even if climate change is occurring, it won’t be that dangerous.Abrupt climate change is just another scare story.
10. There is no evidence that climate change will be bad for people. In fact, warmer weather will actually be good for those people who live in cold countries.
11. There are too many uncertainties about climate change and its impacts to justify taking action. It would be better to wait until we are more certain about climate change before acting.
12. The Kyoto Protocol is a waste of time because the United States will not ratify it. (!)

So, based on what i have read, I think its worth other people reading it, and using that as a way to make their minds up on what to do about the problem. I hope for many that includes going to the climate camp: in the face of a concerted attempt to muddy the waters, its important that we all show that we see climate change as a big problem, and that we want to do something about it.