Politics of Global Warming - Politicization of Climate Science

Politicization of Climate Science

The politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of science may also negatively affect academic and scientific freedom. Historically, groups have conducted various campaigns to promote their interests in defiance of scientific consensus, and in an effort to manipulate public policy.

The global warming controversy concerns the debate over the existence of global warming, its causes and effects, and what (if any) actions should be taken. In the scientific literature, there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused primarily by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view, though a few organizations hold non-committal positions. Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are now more prevalent in the popular media than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and more in the United States than globally.

Primary issues concerning the existence and cause of climate change include the reasons for the increase in global average air temperature, whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations, whether humankind has contributed significantly to it, and whether the increase is wholly or partially an artifact of poor measurements. Scientists have resolved many of these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing, that human activity is the primary cause, and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years. Additional disputes have concerned estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases (climate sensitivity), projections of continued warming in response to the existing build up of greenhouse gases plus future emissions, and what the consequences of global warming will be. Although the primary issues are regarded in the scientific literature as settled, these additional disputes are still the subject of mainstream scientific debate.