University of Indiana: Global Warming
Global climate change tipsheet - 03/05/07
Climate change is becoming obvious to the casual observer, said J. C. Randolph, an environmental science professor at Indiana University and former regional director with the National Institute for Global Environmental Change.
"Scientists are no longer in the position of having to convince people that global warming is real, because they are seeing it for themselves. More and more people are noticing things around them that don't seem quite right -- lakes freezing later in the fall and thawing sooner in the spring, mosquitoes appearing at higher altitudes, places that used to be ski destinations having little or no snow all year," he said.
"These personal observations drive home the images of melting polar icecaps and the possibility of rising sea levels that they hear about on the news.
People are now questioning whether the increased occurrence of severe weather they are experiencing is part of a larger global trend.
Ten years ago when I lectured to students about global warming, all their questions were challenging the evidence and whether it was really happening.
I gave a similar lecture a few weeks ago, and all they talked about was what we can do to try and stop this process."
