New Scientist: Nowhere to Turn for Denialists

An editorial from the New Scientist says: "Wriggle-room shrank this week for those who believe that global warming is not caused by human activity. The latest report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that the world is already changing in line with forecasts from computer models that include greenhouse gases as an integral factor (see As polluters quibble, the poor learn their fate).

"Everything from the increasing numbers of glacial lakes to the poleward shifts in the ranges of animals and plants is almost certainly down to global warming. The IPCC also finds that natural variation is "very unlikely" to be the sole cause of such changes. Models that include only natural influences on temperature, such as volcanoes and solar activity, are significantly outperformed by models that also include greenhouse gases.

"Why shouldn't we take these results at face value? Assuming there is no global scientific conspiracy, the only other occasionally voiced argument is that IPCC scientists have staked so much on greenhouse gases that they are unwilling to brook any alternative. This notion runs so completely counter to what science is about that it is as likely as a global conspiracy..."