The U.S. National Science Foundation has developed an interactive feature on climate change. The feature presents information from leading climate change experts with the aim of shedding some factual light on what the NSF describes as “one of the most complex scientific puzzles ever to confront humankind.”
Key discussion topics covered in the feature include:
* Why we study climate change
* What are some of the climate change projections made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?
* How do we know the earth is warming?
* How much has the earth warmed recently?
* Why is it important to reconstruct the history of the earth”s climate, and how can we do that?
* If the earth has warmed before, why be concerned now?
* What is unusual about the earth”s warming during the past century or so?
* What does carbon dioxide have to do with global warming?
* What is the source of the increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
* How do we know the rising carbon dioxide is not part of a natural cycle?
* How do we know the warming is caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide?
* How much warming do we face, and what are the uncertainties involved?
* How are climate models being improved?
* Would reducing greenhouse gas emissions avoid the impacts of climate change immediately?
* How close are we to having all the answers?
To view the NSF”s interactive feature “What Science Is Telling Us About Climate Change,” click here.
