Climate Change Scientific Consensus at 97%

This from The Guardian.

A survey of thousands of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals has found 97.1% agreed that climate change is caused by human activity.

Authors of the survey, published on Thursday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, said the finding of near unanimity provided a powerful rebuttal to climate contrarians who insist the science of climate change remains unsettled.

The survey considered the work of some 29,000 scientists published in 11,994 academic papers. Of the 4,000-plus papers that took a position on the causes of climate change only 0.7% or 83 of those thousands of academic articles, disputed the scientific consensus that climate change is the result of human activity, with the view of the remaining 2.2% unclear. 

I'd bet on that assessment against the deniers of climate change, but I'd also bet that it will have little impact on those keen to see no actions taken to do something effective about climate change.

The solution seems clear to me - straight out taxes, not trading schemes where prices can plunge to the level of ineffectiveness. But the political will for the solution seems to have completely disappeared.

In my classes at uni, concern for climate change seems to have almost completely disappeared compared to student attitudes of even 2 years ago. Even more so if compared to the students of 5 years ago.

It seems that Tony Abbott once agreed:

I also think that if you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax? Why not ask motorists to pay more, why not ask electricity consumers to pay more and then at the end of the year you can take your invoices to the tax office and get a rebate of the carbon tax you've paid.” Tony Abbott July 29th 2009 Interview with Sky News Australia ... 

Although there are these as well:

The climate change argument is absolute crap, however the politics are tough for us because 80 per cent of people believe climate change is a real and present danger.” Tony Abbott February 2nd 2010 7.30 Report, Australian Broadcasting Corporation  

There is much to be said for an emissions trading scheme. It was, after all, the mechanism for emission reduction ultimately chosen by the Howard government Tony Abbott July 27th 2009 tonyabbott.com.au