Today, we are at an environmental crossroads.
Just as those that pioneered environmental protection in the 20th Century faced the threat of industrial pollution, this generation faces a looming environmental disaster of our own creation.
Human-caused climate change threatens almost every aspect of human existence. Left unchecked, the world of tomorrow will be a vastly different world than the one we know today.
And yet, despite rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, retreating arctic ice, ocean acidification, changing wildlife patterns, and extreme weather events worldwide, polls continue to show that a large portion of the public believe there is significant scientific disagreement as to whether human actions are contributing to climate change -- or even if climate change is real.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Disinformation by entities with conflicts of interest has fueled reports of scientific disagreement, not scientists.
Today, there is not a single scientific body of national or international standing that rejects the findings of human-caused climate change. Not one.
The same unanimity is true of articles published in diverse scientific journals. Researcher Dr. James Powell, a geochemist and 12-year member of the National Science Board just completed the most recent update to his survey of the peer-reviewed literature on climate change.
Dr. Powell found that out of the 10,885 peer-reviewed scientific papers published on climate change in all of 2013 only two papers reject human-caused climate change.
Two out of nearly 11,000. That is less than two-hundredths of one percent of all scientific papers that rejected human-caused climate change.
This is not disagreement. This is not a divided scientific community.
The reason for this is simple: there is no convincing scientific evidence against a human role in climate change. Period.
Those who deny human-caused climate change offer no compelling evidence to better explain the undeniable rise in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and global temperature.
The case is closed. We need to put this illusion of major scientific disagreement behind us and take action.
Every minute we waste on this "myth of disagreement," is one minute longer we have to wait to take concrete action, making any solution more difficult and more expensive.
Make no mistake -- we will be judged by our descendants for what we do today. If we act now -- decisively, forcefully, efficiently -- we can be assured that the basic human desire to leave the world a better place for our children and their children is guaranteed.
This post is part of a series from the Safe Climate Caucus. The Caucus is comprised of 38 members of the House of Representatives who have committed to ending the conspiracy of silence in Congress about the dangers of climate change. For more information, visit the Safe Climate Caucus website and like the Safe Climate Caucus onFacebook.