Santer in 97 Hours of Consensus

Ben Santer caricature by John Cook

Ben Santer, a member of NCSE's board of directors, is among the ninety-seven climate scientists featured in Skeptical Science's 97 Hours of Consensus campaign. Launched on September 7, 2014, the campaign features an hourly statement on climate change from, along with a playful caricature of, ninety-seven leading climate scientists.

Santer, a noted climate researcher, was quoted as saying, "We look at many, many different aspects of climate change and they're telling us an internally and physically consistent story. The message in that story is clear: Humans are affecting the global climate, and natural causation alone can't explain the observed changes that we see."

Also included in the 97 Hours of Consensus campaign are Michael E. Mann (a member of NCSE's Advisory Council) and Richard Alley, both of whom received the inaugural Friend of the Planet award from NCSE in 2014 for their efforts to support NCSE and advance its goal of defending the teaching of climate science.

The number 97, of course, alludes to the result of a study, published in Environmental Research Letters in 2013, that found that 97% of relevant papers on climate science accepted the reality of human-caused global warming; the purpose of the campaign is to help to publicize the existence of the scientific consensus on global warming.

John Cook of the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute explained, "Less than 10% of Americans are aware of the 97% consensus on climate change. This 'consensus gap' matters. When the public aren't aware of the overwhelming agreement on global warming, they're less likely to support action to mitigate climage change."

The 97 Hours of Consensus campaign is using social media extensively.The quotes and caricatures are Tweeted each hour from the Skeptical Science Twitter page (@skepticscience) with the hashtag #97hour and also posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page, and the associated images are available on Imgur.