In defence of [junk] science | COSMOS magazine

...this week the Australian Academy of Science took a stand against the misuse of the term 'uncertainty'. On Monday 16 August 2010, the Academy launched a 16-page booklet titled The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers.

The booklet is succinct, easy to read. It lets the public, educators and the media know that while scientists are not exactly sure how the future will pan out, they're pretty damn sure about a few things.

[From the booklet] We are very confident of several fundamental conclusions about climate change: that human activities since the industrial revolution have sharply increased greenhouse gas concentrations; that these added gases have a warming effect; and that the Earth’s surface has indeed warmed since the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, we are very confident that human-induced global warming is a real phenomenon.  [But what about the thousands of other factors?]