- Congressional Testimony
Abstract/Summary:
Leading U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In recent weeks, opponents of taking action on climate change have misrepresented both the content and the significance of stolen emails to obscure public understanding of climate science and the scientific process.
In this open letter to Congress, the scientists seek to set the record straight: The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. The scientific process depends on open access to methodology, data, and a rigorous peer-review process. The robust exchange of ideas in the peer-reviewed literature regarding climate science is evidence of the high degree of integrity in this process.
- See examples of other communications to Congress from the MIT Joint Program and affiliated participants, available here.
- See also an Open Letter on Climate change and the integrity of science, from 255 members of US National Academy of Sciences; including faculty affiliated with the MIT Joint Program and CGCS (K. Emanuel, C. Wunsch, E. Boyle), May 2010.