"Skeptical Science is based on a simple notion: take each climate related argument and match it up to the latest science, first in simple language that everyone can understand, and then in depth, backed up by links to the peer-reviewed science. The result is a website which clearly identifies what we know and what we don't know regarding climate change. It is enormously useful and is currently the most prominent knowledge-based website dealing with climate change in the world. Perhaps even more remarkable is that the contributions to the advancement of climate change knowledge do not end with the website. Skeptical Science has also produced popular iPhone and Android apps, which provide up-to-date clarity on the truth or otherwise associate with over 150 popular arguments for why climate change isn't happening or its impacts are trivial. The clarity and portability that the iPhone and Android apps have provided represents an enormous and innovative resource for experts and the general public to understand the state of knowledge that we have about climate change and its impacts."
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Professor and Director, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland
"Skeptical Science has reached an international audience that stretches across the world, and which has come at a time when accurate information is critically important in terms of understanding and responding to climate change, and shockingly hard to find. The website, iPhone apps and other Internet inventions have provided support and climate change knowledge to hundreds of thousands of people, and I frequently refer people to it. This is extraordinary in terms of advancing knowledge about climate change."
Naomi Oreskes
Professor of History and Science Studies, University of California, Co-author of Merchants of Doubt
"I read at least one article on SkepticalScience nearly every day and I regularly consult my SkepticalScience iphone app!
I am an ecologist and I study the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, but a few years ago I realized I needed to understand much more about the physical processes underlying the biological changes we are documenting. In part to improve the quality of our science but also because I frequently am challenged when giving public talks by so-called climate change "skeptics". They always ask the same questions and make the same points, eg, "It's the sun!", "it has happened before" and my favorite "it was cold here last week!". The resources provided by SkepticalScience have helped me recognize and respond effectively to these canards.
SkepticalScience also helps me keep up with advances in the physical science of climate change by providing excellent, accurate coverage of key papers in the field (in journals I wouldn't regularly read). I regularly use SkepticalScience as a teaching resource (my students love it), for background research when writing blog posts and I frequently use John Cook's graphics when giving talks. Finally, SkepticalScience has taught me a lot about the "debate" about climate change and about communicating climate change science and how to politely and effectively debunk the ideological talking points we all routinely encounter.
In short, I find the content reliable, concise, graphically appealing, well presented and organized. SkepticalScience has become a key resource to me and many other environmental scientists."
John Bruno
Associate Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"In writing The Inquisition of Climate Science, I referred to SkS constantly. I had room only to address the most frequent denier arguments; SkS told me what those were and how best to refute them. Perhaps the most important thing about SkS is not the details but the way in which it shows that it takes only one short sentence to refute each denier argument, revealing that the deniers have constructed a house of cards that falls apart the moment it confronts the implacable facts of science.
Future historians will look back at these web pages as either showing how the facts allowed reason to triumph, or as revealing how the opportunity to save humanity was squandered. Regardless, when anyone in the future asks John Cook "What did you do in the war?" he will have an answer he can be proud of."
James Lawrence Powell
James Lawrence Powell, author of 2084 and The Inquisition of Climate Science
"There is probably no issue subject to as much misinformation as climate change. Fortunately, there is one place that cuts through the nonsense and provides scientific facts in a clear, well organized, and easy-to-understand format. In preparing presentations on climate change and solutions, I find it to be a wealth of information. With its introduction of smart phone apps, Skeptical Science is now available at your fingertips 24 hours a day."
Chuck Kutscher, Ph.D.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory and leader of the American Solar Energy Society study, Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.
"As a glaciologist focused on the impacts of climate change on glaciers, I have come to rely on Skeptical Science as the first blog to go to each day to keep up with climate change developments. It is like a daily briefing on current arguments confronting climate change science that support inaction."
Mauri Pelto
Professor of Environmental Science, Science Program Chair
Director, North Cascade Glacier Climate Project, Nichols College
"Skeptical Science does two things extremely well: 1) the site relies on peer-reviewed literature to frame the discussion of climate change; and 2) the site realizes that most of us are visual learners, the key plots and graphs are always available. Because of its focus on high quality peer-review publications, SkS draws a bright line between opinion and observation, between the politics of science and science, between tainted skepticism and scientific skepticism. I use SkS in several ways: as a library; for updates on works I may have missed; for climate news; and as a source of scientific points of view."
Chip Fletcher
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa
"I was in attendance at a panel discussion at the Fall 2010 American Geophysical Union Conference with panelists Dr. Richard Sommerville, Susan Hassol, and Chris Mooney. Each of these participants is a giant in their own right. The room was overcrowded and a dividing wall had to be removed to double the seating capacity. The topic of the conversation was how to communicate climate science effectively. During that panel discussion and the interaction with the crowd that followed, Skeptical Science was mentioned four separate times as the premier repository for science information and communication strategies. The persons extolling Skeptical Science were noteworthy climate scientists who recognized the important role the website plays in the international discussion."
John Abraham
Associate Professor, University of St. Thomas
"Skeptical Science’s broad reach across more than 20 languages, even more countries and cultures, and hundreds of thousands of site visitors each month set a new standard for responsible climate science literacy outreach. These are not my opinions alone, but rather those of many in the responsible climate change science and policy community across the United States. One need only attend and participate in the annual conferences of some of the U.S.’s leading science organizations – the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), or the American Meteorological Society (AMS), for instance – to see how often Skeptical Science activities are formally and informally mentioned or cited from the podium…by panelists…by audience members. As I personally witnessed at these conferences, the site is repeatedly identified as the “essential” web resource, the one web site to be visited frequently by those wanting to be and stay informed."
Bud Ward
Editor, The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media
