SCIENCE

To quote NASA, “ It’s important to remember that scientists always focus on the evidence, not on opinions. Scientific evidence continues to show that human activities (primarily the human burning of fossil fuels) have warmed Earth’s surface and its ocean basins, which in turn have continued to impact Earth’s climate. This is based on over a century of scientific evidence forming the structural backbone of today's civilization.”

During the same period a fossil-fuel supported misinformation campaign has fought back, misleading the public and affecting the education of children and the legislation desperately needed. In response, the IPCC (the United Nations) and the NCA (the US Federal Government) issued report after report, often concluding that previous assessments had been too optimistic or that scientists had actually underestimated the pace and severity of the climate problem.The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (2023), drawing on the work of over 700 scientists, found that adverse climate impacts on people and ecosystems are already more far-reaching and severe than anticipated. NCA’s fifth report (2023) announces that the evidence is incontrovertible, the science is unequivocal, and the only credible explanation for observed warming is human activities. 

Most of the leading scientific organizations throughout the world have issued public statements endorsing the position that climate change has been caused by human action.

In November, 2019, on the 40th anniversary of the world’s first climate conference, 11,000 scientists from 153 nations declared, in a Bioscience report, “clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency and that we must change how we live.” The scientists say the urgent changes needed include ending population growth, replacing fossil fuels with renewables, reducing carbon pollutants such as methane and carbon, restoring our ecosystems, and reducing meat consumption. The report ended with some hope that there was still time to turn things around..

But, by October 2024, new research from  Nature  suggested that blowing past climate goals could be more dangerous than originally thought. “Even if temperatures come back down to 1.5 degrees C, the authors found, many climate impacts — like rising sea levels and thawing permafrost — will persist for centuries to millennia.” 

As you explore the different sections in SCIENCE, you will find that climate change has created a web of interconnected relationships that are compounding the consequences we face. 

Looking for a searchable chronology of climate-change events dating from 1824  to 2021? Look no further, thanks to the University of Maine’s Sharon Tisher.