Scientific method

Scientists are people who are after the facts. They use the scientific method to keep discipline to their thoughts.

Guessing, intuition, and common sense are OK to start with, but they must be tested with experiments or observations before they can be reported. Then if others can reproduce the results with the same experiments or others, then the hypothesis can be accepted.

New ideas are often hotly debated with emotions running high. Other scientists set out to test new findings to see if they are true or false. Reputations are made and ruined, but in the end, a result that no one can fault is accepted.

Peer review

New findings are submitted for publication in a reputable journal. The editor will find several experts in the field to review the article. They are the researcher's peers, and the process is known as "peer review". Their job is to test the logic, see if the argument or experiment has holes in it. They have a reputation to up hold and will not let anything pass untested.  Often the author is sent back to the lab bench to do more work or check on something forgotten or sloppy. When completed to the reviewer's satisfaction the paper is published. Reputations and future employment depend on the number and quality of their publications. Other scientists in the field read the paper and some will set out to reproduce the results in order to check or disprove them.  They too will publish their results and gain reputation. 

If a researcher should try to take short cuts and make up or fake results, then justice is swift and brutal. The discoverers of the faking gain great kudos, and the faker is stripped of their reputation, and will never be employed in science again. There is no forgiveness for faking results.

If you are trying to work out if a published article is to be believed or not, see if it has been peer reviewed, and by who. Climate deniers don't bother with peer review so are able to write anything, they don't seem to be too bothered about accuracy either. Many magazines are fronts for industry groups.

IPCC

Globally, around 2000 peer-reviewed papers on climate science are published each year, much too many for any one person to hope to comprehend.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme in 1988 to summarise and assess the vast array of peer-reviewed scientific literature on climate change.

The IPCC published assessment reports in 1990, 1995, 2001,  and 2007 and 2013/14. There are over 800 authors working on this report.

The most recent scientific observations indicate that greenhouse gas emissions and global warming observations are tracking on or above the worse-case scenario considered by the IPCC in its 2007 report.

 Details at: IPCC

Quote

"Without concerted action now, the world will be faced with temperature increases far in excess of 2^oC, with unthinkable impacts"
Robert Watson, Former Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Strategic Director for the Tyndall Centre at the University of East Anglia; and Chief Scientific Advisor for the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Heatwaves: Hotter, Longer, More Often

Our latest report finds hot weather in Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra has already reached levels predicted for 2030.

Climate Council report Feb 2014

1. Climate change is already increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves in Australia. Heatwaves are becoming hotter, lasting longer and occurring more often.
2. Climate change is making heatwaves worse in terms of their impacts on people, property, communities and the environment. Heatwaves have widespread impacts, ranging from direct impacts on our health to damage to ecosystems, agriculture and infrastructure.
3. The climate system has shifted, and is continuing to shift, increasing the likelihood of more extreme hot weather.
4. Record hot days and heatwaves are expected to increase in the future
5. Limiting the increase in heatwave activity requires urgent and deep reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases.        Full report

This we​bsite

On this website we accept the science and wish to act upon it. We are not trying to be experts on the science of climate change

This is not the site for explaining climate science in depth. Here we are collecting technologies for preventing climate chaos.

Sources of information

1) Steffen, W, 2009, Climate change 2009: Faster change and more serious risks: Department of Climate Change: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/publications/science/faster-change-more-....

2) Australian Academy of Science, 2010, "Science of Climate Change: questions and answers" http://www.science.org.au/policy/climatechange.html
 
3) The Garnaut Climate Change Review, 2008  http://www.garnautreview.org.au/, Final report 2011, Australian in the global response to climate change: http://www.garnautreview.org.au/update-2011/garnaut-review-2011.html
  
 
4) Steffen,W, 2011, The Critical Decade – Climate science, risks and responses: Climate Commission, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. http://climatecommission.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/4108-CC-Science-WEB_3-June.pdf

A good visual collection of deniers vs scientists arguments.

This is a  Powerpoint of a talk given by Dr Brian Spies at a community meeting held at Warriewood 24th June 2011