While the vast majority of the scientific community agrees that man-made climate change is happening, the public is still working to catch up: Even among those who accept that it's probably a thing, not nearly enough appear to understand just how certain most scientists are about the basic relationship between human activity and Earth's warming.
Not that we aren't making progress. Politicians are listing humanity's continued contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere among their top concerns and risking attack should they continue to deny the scientific facts. On my subway ride to work, colorful advertisements are urging me to show up in Columbus Circle two weeks from now to participate in what organizers are promising to be the biggest climate march in history. And on social media, the climate science website Skeptical Science has launched a 97-hour campaign -- begun, naturally, on 9/7 -- highlighting the 97 percent scientific consensus, and featuring 97 forceful, tweetable quotes from 97 experts.
As their statements attest, anyone who tries to argue that climate change is some fringe theory, or not nearly as settled as "environmentalists and the liberal media" make it seem, is picking a fight with not just some scientists, but nearly all the scientists. Fortunately for us, some of the top climate experts also happen to be excellent science communicators. There's still a lot to come, but some highlights from the campaign so far prove they're up to the task of explaining both why we should believe climate change is happening, and -- crucially -- why we should care:
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