Climate change

Neil Winton says that a scientific consensus on climate change is not proof, and in this he is absolutely correct. In fact, no scientific conclusions can ever be proven. Scientists have no proof that continents move, that germs cause disease, that DNA carries hereditary information, or that the sun will come up tomorrow. All they have is a strong likelihood that these things are true.

Science achieves a consensus when the vast majority of scientists in a field stop arguing and decide that a given model is most likely correct. That’s what has happened with climate science. You can always find someone somewhere who will disagree, but reporters would be ill advised to give the impression that the scientific community is sharply divided on the subject of anthropogenic climate change. It isn’t. ■