Posted on 19 May 2013 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

On May 15, the peer-reviewed paper, Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature was published in the scientific journal, Environmental Research Letters. The paper presents The Consensus Project (TCP) – a survey of over 12,000 peer-reviewed climate science papers by our volunteer, citizen science team at Skeptical Science. The analysis  found a 97% consensus among papers taking a position on the cause of global warming in the peer-reviewed literature that humans are responsible.

Skeptical Science Study Finds 97% Consensus on Human-Caused Global Warming in the Peer-Reviewed Literature by Dana & John Cook generated a much discussion with some readers challenging the validity of the results of the newly published TCP. John Cook's Measure the climate consensus yourself with our Interactive Rating System and John Hartz's 2013 SkS News Bulletin #12: The Consensus Project rounded out the posts devoted to the TCP.

As discussed below, the paper generated an immense amount of media coverage.  There is also a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account associated with TCP, to make it easy for people to spread the word about these important results.  More details on this to come next week.

Toon of the Week

Quote of the Week

"Climate is a complicated system but there is no change at all in our understanding of climate sensitivity [to carbon dioxide] and where the climate is headed," he said. "Our understanding of sensitivity is based on the Earth's history, not on climate models, and we have good data on how the Earth responded in the past when carbon dioxide changed. So there is no reason to change the forecast for the long term." - Prof. James Hansen

Global warming has not stalled, insists world's best-known climate scientist by Damian Carrington, The Guradian, May 17, 2013 

The Week in Review

• 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #20B by John Hartz
• 2013 SkS News Bulletin #12: The Consensus Project by John Hartz
• Measure the climate consensus yourself with our Interactive Rating System by John Cook
• Skeptical Science Study Finds 97% Consensus on Human-Caused Global Warming in the Peer-Reviewed Literature by Dana & John Cook 
• 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #20A by John Hartz
• Schmitt and Happer manufacture doubt by Dumb Scientists
• The last time carbon dioxide concentrations were around 400ppm: a snapshot from Arctic Siberia by John Mason
• 2013 SkS News Bulletin #11: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
• Another Piece of the Global Warming Puzzle - More Efficient Ocean Heat Uptake by Dana 

Rebuttal Articles Updates

The Consensus Project results have been incorporated into the rebuttals to the denier myths There is no consensus and IPCC is alarmist.

Coming Soon

• The Consensus Project Social Media (John Cook)
• 2013 News Bulletin #13 (John Hartz) 
• Has the rate of surface warming changed? 16 year revisited (Kevin C)
• Weathering of rocks: guide to a long-term carbon-sink (John Mason)
• 2013 SkS News Roundup #21B (John Hartz)
• Will Tropical Forests Remain Carbon Sinks? (AlexanderAc)
• Scientists use crowd-sourcing to help map global CO2 emissions (John Hartz)
• 2013 SkS News Roundup #21B (John Hartz) 

In the Works

• Climate for the Trees (jg)
• How did Ancient Coral Survive in a High CO2 World? (Rob Painting)
• A tale told in maps and charts: Texas in the National Climate Assessment (Dana)
• Agnotology, Climastrology, and Replicability Examined in a New Study (Dana)

SkS in the News

The consensus project and Cook et al. (2013) discussed in Dana and John Cook's Skeptical Science Study Finds 97% Consensus on Human-Caused Global Warming in the Peer-Reviewed Literature generated an immense amount of news coverage.  This includes newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio intervies, Tweets from President Obama and other prominent influential figures, and blog posts about the paper, its results, and its importance.  We have created a page cataloguing the media coverage of our paper.  If you know of any media coverage which is not listed on the page, please let us know in the comments and we'll add it.

SkS Spotlights

The mission of US-based Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) is to be faithful stewards of Creation by responding to global warming through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. This campaign intends to protect the earth’s ecosystems, safeguard the health of all Creation, and ensure sufficient, sustainable energy for all.

Interfaith Power & Light effort began in 1998 with Episcopal Power & Light and the support of Grace Cathedral as a unique coalition of Episcopal churches aggregated to purchase renewable energy. In 2000, this Episcopal effort broadened its focus, brought in other faith partners, and California Interfaith Power & Light was born. 

California IPL developed a successful organizational model that engaged hundreds of congregations, educated thousands of people of faith about the moral and ethical mandate to address global warming, and helped pass California’s landmark climate and clean energy laws. Building on California’s success, this model has now been adopted by 38 sister state affiliates, and IPL is working to establish Interfaith Power & Light programs in every state.