Survey: 96% of meteorologists believe climate change is real; only 1% deny its existence

Most meteorologists believe climate change is real and man-made, with 96 percent of American Meteorologist Society members saying its real, 3 percent saying they don't know and only 1 percent saying climate change is not happening, according to a survey by the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University.

The survey also found that 29 percent of meteorologists say climate change is largely or entirely caused by human activity, 38 percent say it is mostly caused by human activity, 14 think the change is caused more or less equally by human activity and natural events, 7 say mostly natural events, 5 percent say largely or entirely by natural events, 6 percent said they don’t know and 1 percent think climate change is not happening. The survey was sent to all members, with 4,092, or 53 percent, returning the survey, though not all respondents answered every question. (George Mason graphics)

The earth "has witnessed its warmest two years on record, 2015 and 2014, over the last two years," James Samenow reports for The Washington Post. "At the same time, peer-reviewed studies have piled up demonstrating man’s influence on our climate. Ed Maibach, lead author of the survey, told Samenow, “It does appear that more meteorologists are now more convinced that human-caused climate change is happening. That is exactly what one would expect, of course, given the trajectory of our changing climate and the ever increasing of the science.”