from Climate Progress
Palaeoclimatologist William Ruddiman, professor emeritus, University of Virginia
As a mainstream climate scientist, I am confident about the following facts:
* Earth has warmed by 0.7-0.8C since the late 1800’s.
* Greenhouse gas concentrations began rising near 1850 and have been rising since then.
* Most of the warming since the middle/late 1800’s, and the vast majority of it since 1970, has been caused by greenhouse-gas increases.
* Given this history, and with the current rate of gas emissions, future climate will likely be warmer (probably much warmer than any climate of the last few tens of millions of years).
Actions that produce climates greatly different from today carry great risk. And at this point we are headed in that direction.
Atmospheric scientist Jennie Moody, research associate professor, University of Virginia, has concluded that “the public welfare is threatened by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions,” based on her own research and knowledge of the science:Not this will change any r-winger minds. Remember they operate in a world of magical thinking. Good luck with that Coastal Virginia. Too bad for your grand-kids.
There is nothing in my own research, or my understanding of the science of climate change that would give me reason to believe that EPA’s finding of endangerment is not based on sound science. To rephrase this, I would say that my knowledge gained through regular scholarship (reading of the literature in my field, I have a Ph.D. in atmospheric science (meteorology) and a minor in chemistry) and to a lesser extent from my own research in facts leads me to conclude that the public welfare is threatened by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
