The Patriot Post® · About That '97% Consensus'...

Environmental groups and politicians alike cite an oft-repeated statistic that claims 97% of scientists agree anthropogenic global warming is an imminent threat. The statistic is the conclusion of a scholarly review that includes test groups with opinions on both sides of the issue, or none at all, who were instructed to analyze 10,000 peer-reviewed articles. According to the study, “Among the papers expressing a position on AGW, an overwhelming percentage (… 97.1% based on abstract ratings) endorses the scientific consensus on AGW.” National Center for Policy Analysis’ Michael Stroup writes, “Focus on that conditional phrase, ‘among the papers expressing a position on AGW.’ On page 3 of this study, a simple time series chart shows that OVER HALF of these articles did NOT express an opinion on AGW at all. Further, the percentage of these no-opinion climate articles GREW to well over 60% over the period of study. Meanwhile, the percentage of articles that expressly support the AGW theory FELL from around 50% to well below 40%. This is a far cry from 97%. If less than 40% of all published climate studies explicitly support AGW, does this actually constitute a ‘consensus view’ by the climate science community?” More…