Washington, August 21 (ANI): A Nobel prize-winning scientist has concluded that record-breaking summer heat, crop-withering drought and other extreme weather events in recent years do, indeed, result from human activity and global warming.
Mario J. Molina, Ph.D., shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for helping save the world from the consequences of ozone depletion.
"People may not be aware that important changes have occurred in the scientific understanding of the extreme weather events that are in the headlines," Molina said.
"They are now more clearly connected to human activities, such as the release of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from burning coal and other fossil fuels," he noted.
Molina emphasized that there is no "absolute certainty" that global warming is causing extreme weather events. But he said that scientific insights during the last year or so strengthen the link.
Even if the scientific evidence continues to fall short of the absolute certainly measure, the heat, drought, severe storms and other weather extremes may prove beneficial in making the public more aware of global warming and the need for action, said Molina.
Molina, who is with the University of California, San Diego, suggested a course of action based on an international agreement like the Montreal Protocol that phased out substances responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer.
"The new agreement should put a price on the emission of greenhouse gases, which would make it more economically favourable for countries to do the right thing. The cost to society of abiding by it would be less than the cost of the climate change damage if society does nothing," he said.
In addition to a new international agreement, other things must happen, he said. Scientists need to better communicate the scientific facts underlying climate change. Scientists and engineers also must develop cheap alternative energy sources to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Molina made his comment at the 244th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. (ANI)
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