In first reading an article on this vote, I was a little confused. The Senate voted that climate change is real. They did not vote on any actions; they did not even vote to vote on actions in the future. They just voted to admit the reality around them.
NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen first alerted congress to the warming effects of greenhouse gasses in 1988 – that’s 27 years ago. To give a little perspective, I’m a 27 year old who grew up in Wisconsin, with all the snowy winters that entails. I can only imagine how absurd I would sound if I only admitted yesterday that, yes, snow is real. And now that I’ve admitted snow is real, I still won’t shovel the sidewalk.
However these views are not out of line with broader public opinions in the US. According to polls by Pew Research Center and Gallup, 61% of Americans believe that climate change is indeed occurring, but opinions waver on the seriousness of global warming, and Americans do not think it will have a strong effect on their way of life.
In contrast, 97% of scientists think climate change is real and can be attributed to human activities. If my data and hypotheses were accepted with 97% support from my peers, I would be done with my PhD! But this number represents a 36 point gap between scientists and the general public, indicating a lot of miscommunication and/or lack of communication from scientists to the general public. How do we, as scientists and members of a larger society, narrow that margin?
Bemusing as it is to hear that the Senate agreed to accept reality, it is progress. For the past 27 years the public conversation around climate change has been stuck on whether or not it even exists; discussions on how to address climate change haven’t had much of a chance. Maybe now that our leaders have been forced into stating their thoughts on climate change, we can move the conversation onto solutions.