Now, For the Proper Scientific Opinion on Climate Change

Here it is, finally, an objective survey of the opinions of scientists actively working in climate science, showing that 98% of them support anthropogenic climate change. I haven't had the time to look at the actual paper yet, but the linked news article seem to capture the gist of it, based on the abstract.

But honestly, ever since I've been keeping an eye out for articles on climate change, it is pretty clear to me that this kind of survey is superfluous. Most researchers, contrary to public perception, accept the basic tenets of anthropogenic climate change. And really, anyone would, given the wealth of published materials that substantiates the arguments. This study only exists because of the stark -- and sometimes baffling -- contrast between scientific opinion and public opinion.

Of course, there is plenty of debate and research on climate science, but that is mainly trying to quantify the effects. For example, it is accepted that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is revving up the temperatures; the debate now is on how much that temperature rise is gonna be. In fact, if you look at the BBC article, the climate sceptic interview said pretty much that. Unfortunately, when it goes out to the general public, it becomes a denial that anthropogenic climate change is occurring.

And expectedly, climate sceptics bring up the claim of publishing bias. Maybe that is true, but I've seen research articles challenging anthropogenic climate change that got through the peer-review process and was published on top-tiered journals. It is interesting to watch how their arguments get shredded by comments from other researchers (peer-reviewed comments, not Internet comments). I remember particularly fondly how one article got torn into utter bits by a very simple mathematical demonstration.

But then again, I doubt climate denialists care about proper science.