 "Photo: Spencer Selvidge")
With concerns about global warming and the impact humans have on the climate, the faculty of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M has unanimously endorsed the recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In accordance with the IPCC report, Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change, the atmospheric sciences faculty said in their statement, which is posted on the atmospheric sciences website, that it is virtually certain the climate is warming and it is very likely humans are responsible for this change.
The faculty members also said the temperature of the earth will rise at least two degrees Celsius over the next century if nothing is done to curb carbon dioxide emissions, and climate change will bring a "risk of serious adverse impacts on our environment and society."
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The panel's job is to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Richard Orville, a professor and department head of atmospheric sciences, said his department is in a position to have an opinion on this subject and that they have a responsibility to provide guidance for the public about this issue.
"We hope that this is a way of getting the truth out," Orville said. "We want to provide a source for the truth that people can trust."
The A&M atmospheric sciences department is the second largest of its kind in the nation, with 23 faculty members. There are about 45 such departments throughout the country, Orville said.
"I think it is significant because as far as I know, we are the first department to release a statement," Orville said.
Gerald North, distinguished professor in atmospheric sciences, said one reason for the release of the statement was because he kept getting questions about the validity of global warming.
"I had a number of well-educated people in the Texas Legislature and from different boards and committees who would doubt global warming," North said. "It's not because they are stupid, it is because they don't know what to believe."
North said this should be a strong statement to people outside the scientific community and said there is absolutely no debate within the geosciences community about the realities of global warming.
Because the atmospheric sciences department does research, which is paid for by the federal and state government, Andrew Dessler, an associate professor of climate science, said they have an obligation to return their expert opinions to the public.
"Since climate change is something that is in the news so much and because many of the arguments revolve around science we felt it was our obligation to provide the A&M community and state with our expert opinion about what the scientific facts are."
In the past decade, the global warming debate has taken center stage as a mainstream issue both within the scientific community and the politics of Washington, D.C. Global warming is a controversial topic for many, with moral and economic arguments on both sides of the partisan divide.
Dessler said this issue is simply politically controversial and that the attacks on the science behind global warming misrepresent the state of science.
"Our goal with this statement was to remove the argument that there is no scientific consensus," Dessler said. "The debate should be moved to where it needs to be now, which is: there is a risk out there and what should be done about it. The risk clearly exists."
North said this is not a liberal or conservative issue, but pointed to talk show hosts and activists who turn the issue into a partisan one.
"I am not blaming either side, they are in the business of politics," North said. "Our business is to say what the scientific consensus is."
The IPCC report states the global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and far exceed pre-industrial values, and the increase in carbon dioxide is due primarily to fossil fuel use and land change.
Some argue the IPCC report is a political document, edited by politicians before it was released, and influenced by members of participating governments. The IPCC is open to all members of the United Nations and WMO.
Dessler said he rejects the argument that the IPCC reports are significantly influenced by politicians.
"The IPCC reports are written by hundreds of scientists and reviewed by thousands of others," Dessler said. "Politicians have no control over the bulk of the report, and that's why the reports represent the best thinking of the scientific community on the important issues involving climate change."
Temperature increases of up to 5 degrees Celsius, changes in rainfall patterns, extreme weather events and the decrease in availability of water in certain places are what Dessler said will be the likely impact of global warming.
"A few degrees doesn't sound like a lot, but, for example, during the last ice age the earth was a few degrees cooler than it is today," Dessler said. "In general, people are adapted to living on a planet that has a certain climate, and that climate hasn't changed much in the past 10,000 years."
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) 2005 State of the Climate Report, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere increased from approximately 280 parts per million (ppm) in pre-industrial times to 379 ppm in 2005.
Dessler said these numbers show humans have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by 30 percent in the last 250 years.
"Twenty percent of the emissions come from biomass burning associated with things like deforestation and 80 percent comes from fossil fuels," Dessler said.
One argument against human induced global warming is climate change, a natural cycle, and that the heating we are seeing now is just part of that cycle.
Dessler said the earth does cool and warm by itself but one can't dismiss the idea that the recent warming is caused by humans. "The rate of the warming and what drives it all suggest today's warming is unique," Dessler said.
"For example, after the last ice age it took 20,000 years to warm about 8 degrees and what we are talking about is 5 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years," Dessler said. "The earth is so well instrumented now that we have a really good idea of the things that can be causing the warming, and the only factor that can be causing it now is greenhouse gases."
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