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A Closer Look at Climate Change Skepticism

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A CLOSER LOOK AT CLIMATE CHANGE SKEPTICISM
By Charles W. Schmidt
Publication by Environmental Health Perspectives
December 2010
Article Review by James M. Phelps
Davenport University

Abstract
To summarize the article, I believe that the author of the article Charles W. Schmidt is indicating that much of the skepticism on global warming and climate change has come from inaccurate data being released by both sides of the argument, that private and corporate funding has persuaded scientist to make conclusions on the side of where their funding is coming from, and that politics has played a huge role in the view that the public has on the issue at hand. Charles W. Schmidt points out mistakes that both sides have made in their arguments and he believes because of all the above reasons there is so much skepticism in whether or not the climate is changing and global warming is occurring.

A Closer Look at Climate Change Skepticism I believe this article was significant in the field of Environmental Science in that global warming and how it is changing the climate is one of the most widely disputed topics in environmental science. This article written by Charles W. Schmidt who is a freelance writer who specializes in science, medicine, and technology. This article explains many of the reasons for so many people to have skepticism about the issue of global warming and its effects on the environment which are also discussed on page 39 of our text book “Environmental Science A Global Concern (12th edition)” . Charles Schmidt points out that those skeptics on the fact that global warming is causing negative effects on the environment are typically conservatives. Many of these scientists are funded by the oil companies and industry organizations. Other skeptics agree that global warming is effecting the environment but don’t agree on what is causing the global warming effect and that it is not only green house gasses in the atmosphere that is causing it. Schmidt also points out that the people that support the conclusions that green house gasses are the main contributor to the global warming have hurt their cause by publishing inaccurate data like when the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported “that all 15,000 Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035.” (Schmidt) This was a clerical error and was suppose to be by 2350. This incorrect information was in New Scientist magazine, World Wildlife Fund brochure, and the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report. It turns out that this article was not peer-reviewed. As indicated in page 39 of our text book “The peer review process is an essential part of ensuring that scientists maintain good standards in study design, data collection, and interpretation of results.” (Cunningham, Cunningham, 2012) and “Inaccurate data can produce sloppy and misleading conclusions.” (Cunningham, Cunningham, 2012) When you publish inaccurate data, it only gives the skeptics more ammunition to make claims that you don’t know what you’re talking about and allows them to further influence the public and politicians that your scientific data is inaccurate. I have learned from this article and the text book that it is very difficult to do a scientific study on what is causing global warming and how it is effecting the environment. Because this hypothesis is so hard or impossible to do a controlled experiment on that can be reproduced it makes it difficult to show substantial evidence to support scientific conclusions. This opens the door for additional evidence to disprove the conclusions. This article opened my eyes to the importance of the peer review process and how essential it is to maintain good standards in a published article, and how important it is that the scientists involved are unbiased for the conclusions reached by the scientists to be accepted as being true.

References
Cunningham, W.P. & Cunningham, M. (2012). Environmental Science A Global Concern (12th edition). New York, NY: McGrew-Hill Higher Education.
Schmidt, C. W. (2010). A closer look at climate change skepticism. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118(12): 536-540. 5p.
Schmidt, C. W. (2012).Schmidt Writing - Freelance Writer Specializing In Science, Medicine and Technology. Medicine and Technology. Charles Schmidt. Retrieved from http://www.schmidtwriting.com/>.

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