[Vision2020] NOAA: New Guide Aims to Improve Public Climate Literacy

[Ted Moffett]

Some on Vision2020 have suggested we should leave climate science to the
"experts" and let them solve the problems of climate change.  The subject is
too difficult for any but PhDs. in climate science to really comprehend.
However, given the complex and daunting political, economic and personal
changes needed to address anthropogenic climate change, and the aggressive
efforts to spread misinformation about climate science to cloud the issue,
it is very important for people to have a basic understanding of this
subject.  Those who are resisting the changes needed to address climate
change know that if they can convince a large segment of the public that
global warming is not human caused, or is not happening to any significant
degree, or if human caused is mostly beneficial, that politicians will not
be as inclined to push for action to lower human sourced greenhouse gas
emissions, nor will people be inclined to make changes in consumption
patterns or personal lifestyle to address the issue.

It is amazing (read at bottom) that 40 years ago the U.S. National Academy
of Sciences was warning of significant impacts from human greenhouse gas
emissions.  The science involved in this issue is well established, having
been studied since at least as far back as 1896 by Nobel Prize winning
scientist Arrhenius.  Website immediately below from NASA focuses on
Arrhenius and his work on determining one of the fundamental questions of
climate science, "climate sensitivity," or the increase in
global temperature from a doubling of atmospheric CO2:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Arrhenius/arrhenius_2.php<http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Arrhenius/>

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Info on "*Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science" at
website below:*

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090318_climateliteracy.html

“As climate policy is being discussed, it is very important for the citizens
of our nation to have an appreciation for some of the fundamental aspects of
climate and climate change,” said Tom
Karl<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/about/welcomefromdirector.html>,
director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data
Center<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html>in Asheville, N.C., and
lead for NOAA's climate services. “This guide is a
first step for people who want to know more about the essential principles
of our climate system, how to better discern scientifically credible
information about climate, and how to identify problems related to
understanding climate and climate change.”

“There is so much misinformation about climate. We want to provide an easily
readable document to help everyone make the most informed decisions,” said
Karl. “Having one product endorsed by the nation’s top federal science
agencies, as well as leading science centers and associations, makes this
document an essential resource.”
-----------------------------

http://climate.noaa.gov/index.jsp?pg=/education/edu_index.jsp&edu=literacy

>From website above:

During the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-1958, the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences published a pioneering science education
publication, *Planet Earth: Mystery with 100,000 Clues*. The brochure
pointed out that Earth's natural greenhouse effect was being altered as "our
industrial civilization has been pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
at a great rate." The brochure went on to warn that if this continued, the
result "would have a marked warming effect on Earth's climate" that could
"cause significant melting of the great ice caps and raise sea levels in
time."
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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