Real Science is Hard

If you're interested in the Canadian Blogosphere take on 'Global Warming' there's been lots of talk lately, starting at Stageleft,
continuing at Heart of the Matter, continuing at Bound by Gravity and also spilling over at Calgary Grit and Obsidian Tempest.

The upshot is that there are some right-wing folks who disagree that with the vast majority of climate change experts who believe that human activity is contributing to a general rise of earth's surface temperature (i.e. global warming) or who think that even if we are contributing to rising temperatures we should just roll with the punches (so to speak) instead of trying to prevent/minimize our impact.

What I find interesting is the contrast between the complexity of the scientific work on one hand and the simplicity of those who are arguing against the general consensus which arises from the scientific work. What it comes down to is that real science is hard, pseudo-science is easy.

Anyway, for those who are interested, here's a link to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN body set up to co-ordinate/synthesize the work done/knowledge gained on this topic by scientists from around the globe.

And here's a link to a very clearly written Blog, RealClimate which is run by some climate scientists and is devoted to providing timely, accurate responses/clarifications to mainstream media discussions of climate change. It's worth a look (for future reference, I've added it to my links under miscellaneous) - thanks to Jonathan for pointing it out.

To me, the question we should be talking about is how should we go about reducing our impact on the climate. I don't think that Rick Mercer commercials are the answer, but I admit that I don't know what is. I'm thinking that the division of powers between Federal and Provincial is probably a complicating factor, but don't know that for sure. Suggestions are welcome.