“Recent extreme weather events are likely connected to man-made climatechange.”

That was the conclusion government scientists reached in a July,2012 report issued by the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA).

In the report, which was based on 50 years of weather data,scientists said the record drought in Texas in 2011 was made “roughly 20 times morelikely” because of manmade climate change, specifically pointing towarming that comes from greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide.

Nobel Laureate Mario J. Molina's keynote address to members ofthe world's largest scientific society this Mondayecho the NOAA's earlier assertion related to droughts.

Molina presented research at the 244^th NationalMeeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), anevent that draws an audience of close to 14,000 scientists andother professionals. Although he noted it was impossible to saywith “absolute certainty” that global warming is causing extreme weather, Molina said new evidence from “the last yearor so” definitely strengthen the link.

“People may not be aware that important changes have occurred inthe scientific understanding of the extreme weather events that arein the headlines,” Molina said. “They are now more clearlyconnected to human activities, such as the release of carbondioxidethe main greenhouse gasfrom burning coal and other fossilfuels.”

Prior to being assigned by President Obama to form part of thetransition team on environmental issues, Molina was a co-recipientof the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his role in illuminatingthe threat of chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFCs) to the Earth's ozonelayer.

Molina added that even if the scientific evidence continues tofall short of the “absolute certainty measure,” that heat, drought,severe storms and other weather events may prove beneficial inenhancing public awareness.

After exploring the potential far-reaching effects of failure toaddress climate change, Molina prescribed a plan reminiscent of theMontreal Protocol, an international agreement under which CFCswere phased out in 1996.

“[Any] new agreement should put a price on the emission ofgreenhouse gases, which would make it more economically favorablefor countries to do the right thing,” he said. “The cost to societyof abiding by it would be less than the cost of the climate changedamage if society does nothing.”

Molina also enumerated why climate change is a much more“pervasive” and “polarizing” issue when compared to the ozonedepletion problem.

“Fossil fuels, which are at the center of the problem, are soimportant for the economy and affects so many other activities,” hesaid. “That makes climate change much more difficult to [adequatelyaddress].”

Molina urged scientists to not only communicate the factsunderlying climate change more clearly but to also continue workingwith engineers to develop cheap alternative energy sources thatwould ostensibly reduce the current dependence on fossil fuels.

Source: American Chemical Society