Can someone tell me how many experts there are on Climate Change on Yahoo Answers?

Question

I would like to understand how many people have an active interest in Climate Change and how many people participate in discussions around this.

Answer 1

There's quite a few people who I would describe as being educated on the subject although not necessarily experts.

Some of the better informed contributors include (alphabetically) = ^_^ =, 3DM, Bob, Brennan, Byderule, Cosmo, Dana1981, Engineer, Keith P, Mike and Nickel Johann (there are others as well).

In terms of experts who have qualifications directly related to climate change there's only four people that I'm aware of. There's two people, the names of which I can't remember, that haven't contributed for a long time. 1ofselbys is a retired meteorologist with 45 years experience, he too hasn't contribued for a while, he primarily answered questions in the weather section but did answer some regarding global warming.

To put some numbers to your question (based on personal observartions and active contributors)...

Qualified experts with relevant degrees - 1
Very knowledgeable - 3 or 4
Reasonably knowledgeable - About 10
Basic knowledge - 20 or 30
Little or no knowledge - 100 or so

- - - - - - -

TO HARRY: Earth going round the sun is a theory - a scientific one. My question specifically related to scientific theories which can be defined as "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena." Theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses.

Answer 2

What do you mean by "expert"?

There is no single person in the world whose work covers all aspects of Climate Change. There is no single person who has first-hand knowledge of all the relevant data. Therefore, everyone depends on reports and scientific papers written by others. It does require a certain level of background knowledge to read these documents and understand them---roughly the level of a first- or second-year graduate student in the physical sciences. As far as science policy is concerned, the current state of understanding is pretty well summarized by organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the IPCC. These summaries are meant for non-experts (or even worse, politicians). Such summaries can be read and understood by most people with a good education.

Lobbying organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute and the Tobacco lobby have done a lot of damage by sowing doubt about the reports written by various associations of scientists. In my opinion, these reports are usually very careful and conservative appraisals of the state of scientific knowledge.


P.S. I am a full Professor of Astronomy at a major university. I've been spending time here on Y!Answers while on sick leave and laid up with a serious illness. I feel I cannot involve my University in what is basically a non-professional activity, and so I have retained my anonymity here. I have taught graduate-level courses in Planetary Atmospheres and Radiative Transfer modelling, disciplines that are directly related to Global Warming. I know quite a bit about computer modelling of complex physical phenomena. I am interested in GW, because I believe it is the greatest potential threat to our civilization, and I have therefore studied the literature. My one original thought on the matter (although I do not claim any sort of priority) is the realization that the GW process will continue for thousands of years, and that the worst, if it happens (there are great uncertainties) will be hundreds of years in the future. That worst may be very bad indeed.

Answer 3

The closest thing I've seen to what I'd consider a climate change expert (somebody who actively studies global climate change) on Y!A is Trevor. I would say that Keith P. and Engineer also really know their stuff. There are a couple of people like myself and Bob who have studied the issue very thoroughly and know what we're talking about, but I wouldn't call us experts.

So it just depends on how you define "expert". Many people participate in discussions on the subject, but lots of them frankly have not researched the issue and thus don't really know what they're talking about. Mr. Jello is a prime example of this.

The way you can tell who knows what they're talking about is to look at their sources. If they just make a wild claim without supporting it with scientific evidence, most likely they don't know what they're talking about. If they make a claim and do provide supporting evidence, examine that evidence and make sure it proves what they're saying. Then you know they've researched the issue.

Answer 4

LOL Come on is this a trick question ? Now your messing with the wannabees . And we was just starting to have fun .There's always someone in the crowd that's going to bust your bubble and spoil every ones fun.

Fact is we don't care if we are experts or not because the real experts that's eating up the tax money sure isn't doing any better then us. Look at the mess that our country's in . Running out of oil , war our people are being killed, global warming , poor keep getting poorer taking the middle class down with them and on and on . So basically put your expert where the sun don't shine. The non experts can do a better job as far as I'm concerned or just as well but allot cheaper.

Answer 5

There are many people on this site who claim to be experts however I have not seen any who I would consider to be truly expert on this topic.

I do not claim to be an expert in this topic myself even though I am a physicist and I do have a great deal of knowledge on the topic.

Of the regular contributors I would say the people that impress me as being the most knowledgable are Bob, Trevor, Mike, and Dana 1981.

Answer 6

I have an active interest and participate, but I am in no way an expert on Climate Change or climatology, or most every science. Hence the participation. I am of the opinion that one can not truly begin to understand something until he is able to express that understanding to others. If I had all of the answers, I wouldn't have to seek out others to whom I could dispense these pearls of wisdom...THEY would be seeking me out.

That being said, I would hesitate to accept anyone's expertise on Y!A if they tend to believe that they know the answers or that their knowledge or scientific/logical approach is immutable.

Answer 7

Trained scientists are barely qualified to talk about climatology. Climatologists are the real experts. Physical oceanographers who deal with global circulation issues are a close second.

Climatology is a mathematical pure science, mostly dealing with physics. Meteorology is an applied science, and not the same thing.

Unless someone has a PhD in a mathematical science, they're at best a fringe player in the field.

How many PhD's we got around here?

Answer 8

I've only seen one that both knows what he is talking about most of the time and has credentials to back it up. Not that I always agree with this person.

There's another person on here who pretends to be an expert and is really an 18 year old high school drop out. And then of course, there's Trevor.

Answer 9

Thousands of self-proclaimed "experts", but very few who have any credentials or even any knowledge to back up their claims.

Most are on the level of, "It snowed in my city last winter, so it can't be getting warmer." The sad thing is that they probably think that's a very intelligent observation.

Answer 10

Well there are many people who claim to be experts. This is one person who kept giving answers with the prologue "As a scientist..." who then refused to give his credentials:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=At6b_irQbSg7U3ag_cuTrXXty6IX?qid=20070723092033AAXiVpI&show=7#profile-info-bb5e3162f4c207ab157801f357f83c36aa


Then there is Trevor who I respect very much but says things that when I repeat to actual physical scientists I know, make them roll up their eyes as prize statements in ridiculousness. For instance, this statement by Trevor that the earth going around the sun is just a theory:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=At4Jrk5r3cAhNB39m_E25JTsy6IX?qid=20070722210729AA7p8O6


So if you ask me, I'm still waitin' to find out who all the experts are and what their credentials are (ones that I can verify) 'cause they are on this thing 24/7 telling us we are all a bunch a idiots all the time and that they are experts. There aint no due diligence on these claims.