The controversies are, by now, mostly political rather than scientific: there is a scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is caused by human activity.[2] Public debates that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases (
climate sensitivity). Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the
media than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and such disputes are more prevalent in the
United States and
Australia than
globally.[3][4][5]
There have been many debates around the details of climate change science.
Climate change deniers and "skeptics" tend to
cherry-pick data or studies, and then trump up any scientific discussions or apparent discrepancies that match with their agenda.[citation needed] Many of those apparent discrepancies have been reconciled in the meantime,
climate models have become more accurate, the
scientific consensus on climate change has strengthened and so forth. For example, climatologist
Kevin E. Trenberth has published widely on the topic of
climate variability and has exposed flaws in the publications of other scientists.[6][7][8]
For past debates and controversies on scientific details see for example: