The In-depth Story Behind the 97% of Scientists Climate Myth

There are so many empty slogans out there I wish we could tackle all of them at once. But the “97% of scientists agree” is surely the elephant in the room. Lots of people have tried to rebut it by dismissing the notion of consensus itself, or by praising the historical examples of renegade scientists who went against a prevailing consensus and turned out to be right. But that unnecessarily concedes the major claim itself, which the evidence shows is simply not true. I hope you enjoy the video, and that you’ll share it widely.

So a far better question would be: How many of the studies claimed that humans have caused most of the observed global warming? And oddly, we do know.

Only 41 actually endorsed the view that global warming is mostly manmade.

Evidence later emerged that the authors of the paper were drafting press releases about their findings before they even started doing the research, which indicates an alarming level not of warming or of consensus but of bias.

In any case, it's a small sample, even of AMS members, let alone of the world's scientists.

A social psychologist named Jose Duarte, who specializes in survey design, published an analysis of that one, pointing out that they diluted the sample by including large numbers of psychologists, philosophers, political scientists, and other non-experts, making their results meaningless as a measure of what scientists think.

Just as you'll find that the people who cite that 97% number are overwhelmingly not trained scientists, certainly not trained statisticians.

Most experts agree on the basics, namely that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and probably causes some warming and that humans have some impact on climate probably including some warming.

John And there's the claim that many of the world's national science academies, representing hundreds of thousands of scientists across the globe, have issued statements supporting the consensus about global warming and demanding government efforts to cut emissions.

They offer no information about whether a majority of scientists think global warming is a crisis.

The problem isn't just that we don't know what percentage of scientists agrees with this or that statement about global warming.

Not long ago that survey expert I mentioned earlier, Jose Duarte, warned his fellow scientists about the negative consequences of claiming consensus. 

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/05/01/the-in-depth-story-behind-the-97-of-scientists-climate-fraud/