Five Facts About Climate Change to Set the Record Straight

Not sure about climate change? Here’s what the science says.

If you watched this year’s State of the Union address, you might remember President Barack Obama’s frustrated nod to congressional climate change doubters.

“Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we did not deny Sputnik was up there,” Obama said. “We did not argue about the science or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and 12 years later we were walking on the moon.”

Despite decades of research, too many U.S. politicians still deny climate change , a phenomenon so thoroughly documented as to find agreement among virtually every leading body of American scientists — NASA, NOAA, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society, just to name a few. And yet, climate contrarians continue to reject the science and muddy the waters of public understanding.

Here, in an effort to set the record straight, are five facts about climate change everyone needs to know.

Read the rest at Live Science.