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> Back in the late 80s and early 90s climate change was far from settled thing. I was under the assumption that the basic tennets of climate change were well u

> Back in the late 80s and early 90s climate change was far from settled thing. I was under the assumption that the basic tennets of climate change were well understood by scientists more than 100 years ago. While the climate models have been developed only recently, enabling more accurate predictions, climate science is centuries old as it relates to understanding human impact on our climate. Climate science was as "settled" in the 80s and 90s as it is today. Yes, the predictions are more accurate today, but the confidence that we are changing Earth's climate was just as strong then as now. I remember in 1997-8 being taught in US public schools, in no uncertain terms, that we are changing the climate, warming the atmosphere into a runaway greenhouse effect. This was in the US South in a very red state that mostly denies climate science today. The only way to interpret the idea that climate science was "less settled" in the 80s 90s is political. It has been "settled" for 100+ years in rational scientific discourse.

hristov 7y ago
Perhaps i misspoke. By less settles i meant that it was less known about and believed among the average population rather than as a scientific consensus. The relevant discussion here is corporate risk disclosure. If a corporation says it does not need to disclose a known risk because everyone knows about it it has to be something that is really universally known and universally believed to be true. Something like gravity. That certainly was not and it is not true about climate change. There are still people that believe it is not true and there were much more of them in the 80s and 90s. We are not talking about scientific consensus here. The exxon stock was not sold exclusively to scientists. We are talking the average joe.
- SturgeonsLaw 7y ago
  > believed among the average population Yes, and 45% of the population believe in ghosts [0], 29% of Americans believe Obama is a Muslim [1] and 40% of Americans believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old [2], so frankly I put very little stock in what the average Joe thinks these days. There has been a constant propaganda campaign waged in the media by people who have an interest in maintaining the status quo regarding extractive industries, and a rather large proportion of the population has eaten it all up. --- [0] http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ghosttoplines.pdf http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ghosttoplines.pdf [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09/14/a-startling-number-of-americans-still-believe-president-obama-is-a-muslim/?noredirect=on https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09... [2] https://www.livescience.com/46123-many-americans-creationists.html https://www.livescience.com/46123-many-americans-creationist...

hristov 7y ago

Perhaps i misspoke. By less settles i meant that it was less known about and believed among the average population rather than as a scientific consensus. The relevant discussion here is corporate risk disclosure. If a corporation says it does not need to disclose a known risk because everyone knows about it it has to be something that is really universally known and universally believed to be true. Something like gravity. That certainly was not and it is not true about climate change. There are still people that believe it is not true and there were much more of them in the 80s and 90s. We are not talking about scientific consensus here. The exxon stock was not sold exclusively to scientists. We are talking the average joe.

SturgeonsLaw 7y ago
> believed among the average population Yes, and 45% of the population believe in ghosts [0], 29% of Americans believe Obama is a Muslim [1] and 40% of Americans believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old [2], so frankly I put very little stock in what the average Joe thinks these days. There has been a constant propaganda campaign waged in the media by people who have an interest in maintaining the status quo regarding extractive industries, and a rather large proportion of the population has eaten it all up. --- [0] http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ghosttoplines.pdf http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ghosttoplines.pdf [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09/14/a-startling-number-of-americans-still-believe-president-obama-is-a-muslim/?noredirect=on https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09... [2] https://www.livescience.com/46123-many-americans-creationists.html https://www.livescience.com/46123-many-americans-creationist...