American Meteorological Society adopts stronger statement on climate change - Examiner.com

Saying that the warming climate is a direct result of human activity, the American Meteorological Society released a revised statement on climate change today. The new statement, adopted by the organization without a vote by its members, puts the organization at odds with much of its membership.

The AMS informational statement on climate change was last revised in 2007. The 2012 update draws much stronger conclusions about human influence on the Earth’s climate and the resultant global warming.

In 2007 the AMS said that, “humans have significantly contributed to this change.” However it recognized much of the uncertainty in the study of climate change and called for additional study.

The new statement adopts much of the same alarmism that has been used by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“Warming of the climate system now is unequivocal,” the statement says which neither alarmists nor skeptics would disagree with.

However the new statement squarely pins the blame on man saying, “The dominant cause of the warming since the 1950s is human activities.”

“Many of the observed changes noted above are beyond what can be explained by the natural variability of the climate. It is clear from extensive scientific evidence that the dominant cause of the rapid change in climate of the past half century is human-induced increases in the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), chlorofluorocarbons, methane, and nitrous oxide.”
~ AMS Statement on Climate Change, August 20, 2012

The AMS statement warns of the consequences of manmade climate change that others have. Longer periods of drought, stronger severe weather events, glacier retreat and other calamities are expected to ensue in the decades to come.

To remedy the warming, the group says, “Avoiding this future warming will require a large and rapid reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.”

But does the AMS membership agree with the new statement?

The procedure the AMS follows in adopting new statements precludes its paying members from voting on them. Instead, a committee is formed and they in turn make recommendations to the group’s governing council who have the authority to adopt it.

While the rank and file AMS members are told of the possible statement changes and given an opportunity to submit comments, they are only for “consideration” and bear no real weight on the outcome.

In a survey of AMS members, conducted this year, 59% felt that man was the primary cause for the warming climate. However, a significant minority had their doubts saying that natural events were also a factor or believed that not enough was known to draw any conclusions.

The AMS and the council’s activism have run afoul of its members many times in the past.

Last year Dr. Bill Gray, a member of the AMS for more than 50 years wrote, “We AMS members have allowed a small group of AMS administrators, climate modelers, and CO2 warming sympathizers to maneuver the internal workings of our society to support AGW policies irrespective of what our rank-and-file members might think. This small organized group of AGW sympathizers has indeed hijacked our society.”

Gray is one of the most visible and outspoken critics of the AMS. Many others in the rank and file membership have voiced similar concerns.

The at large membership of the AMS did not vote on this statement. Indeed, it is not even known how many of the 21 members of the AMS council supported the modifications to the statement.

In the coming days AMS members will undoubtedly clamor to have their voices heard. It will be interesting to see what they say.

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