Climate change

The survey at the base of the statement is not current. It was conducted in 1991, when the science of climate change was far less developed than it is now.

Even then, the 19 percent (not 17) of respondents were referring to a question on the past 100 years. They said that temperatures had risen 1881-1991 and that humans were responsible for it.

When asked whether human-induced climate change was now occurring (in 1991), 66 percent of the scientists said yes. Since then the evidence supporting this view has steadily increased.

The actual position of the American Geophysical Union, an international society of 42,000 members, including several in Bangladesh, is that "Human activities are increasingly altering the Earth's climate. These effects add to natural influences that have been present over Earth's history. Scientific evidence strongly indicates that natural influences cannot explain the rapid increase in global near-surface temperatures observed during the second half of the 20th century. Human impacts on the climate system include increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and their substitutes, methane, nitrous oxide, etc.), air pollution, increasing concentrations of airborne particles, and land alteration. A particular concern is that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide may be rising faster than at any time in Earth's history, except possibly following rare events like impacts from large extraterrestrial objects."

Readers who would like to see the full text of the statement excerpted above will find it at http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/positions/climate_change.shtml