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The truth is that the vast majority of the scientific community believes the planet is warming very rapidly. The truth is also that it is the minority dissenting opinion that gets way too much exposure through the media that seem very concerned to present a "balanced" view on the subject. The result is that many people think that there is some sort of split in the scientific community. There is no such split.
The media talk to one scientist supporting the theory of climate change and then find a dissenter to present the "balanced" view. It looks like it's almost a 50/50 split, but that is a complete distortion of the science of climate change.
No scientist will say, "This is the cause of climate change" because that is not the way science talks. Absolutes do not exist in any scientific discussion. But that does not, as so many think, mean that the science supporting climate change is weak at all.
Science talks about the "theory of plate tectonics". The word "theory" does not mean there is any doubt in the scientific community that the earth's surface is made up of moving plates. There may be the odd person with science credentials that is a dissenting opinion, but plate tectonics is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence. Theories of climate change are in exactly the same state.
Another example: no scientist will say he knows what an electron actually is. But we are doing very well with present theories of quantum mechanics as everything from nuclear energy to this forum will prove. It's "only" a theory, but it works quite well.
One of the great dangers of our time is the misunderstanding of the way scientists describe their "theories" and how that word is used by some to try to discount the truths on which those theories are based.
The vast majority of scientists who study climate are united in their view that the earth is warming, and that human activity is contributing to it.
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