Politicians, lobbyists and the media’s talking heads can hurl all the “studies” they want at each other; when it comes to global climate change there’s only one group of people who are actually educated and trained to provide the best, newest and most accurate information.

Which is why scientist James L. Powell has had enough and conducted his own research… on the research. Powell’s stance is this: If there were a legitimate debate among scientists over whether or not global warming is caused by man or even whether it exists, it would be reflected in peer-reviewed studies. Peer-reviewed studies are the most reliable sources for scientific knowledge and development.

So Powell set out to review the research. He conducted a search in the Web of Science for papers written on “global warming” and “global climate change.” He found 13,950 articles. Of these, 24 studies stated that climate change is not caused by humans, or that it’s simply not happening at all. That’s .17 percent.

If you’re still not quite getting that, Powell provides a pie chart:

So when some pundit cites research that proves his or her point that global warming is a wad of malarkey, chances are they’re citing one of the 24 articles… and they’re citing it over and over again. Mark Twain may have made a clever point when he commented the folly of the majority, but unfortunately that’s not how it works in the scientific field.

And if you’re not a fan of pie charts and are aligned with the Elizabeth Halsey school of learning, here’s a video: