SEPP

The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) was founded in Fairfax, Virginia in 1990 by S. Fred Singer. It presents scientific evidence against the global warming theory, and argues that the media and other institutions have shown bias in reporting on the global warming controversy.

SEPP strongly rejects the claim that a "scientific consensus" exists regarding the global warming hypothesis. In a series of articles, Prof. Singer contends that supporters of the Kyoto Protocol vastly overstate the degree of scientific certainty on climate change. In particular, Singer claims that the United Nations panel on climate change (IPCC) has produced misleading summaries of the work of scientists whose results did not support the IPCC's preordained conclusions.

According to the Harvard University Center for the Environment, "The Science and Environmental Policy Project site is primarily an outlet for the views of S. Fred Singer, Distinguished Research Professor at George Mason University. It provides access to Singer's congressional testimony, articles, and reprints of related newspaper stories."

Grist magazine says that Professor Singer, SEPP's founder,

"maintains a steady drumbeat of op-eds in the Washington Times and Wall Street Journal, among other publications, disputing the scientific consensus on issues such as ozone depletion and climate change."

SEPP's board of directors and advisers is, according to Grist, "made up primarily of retired scientists no longer active in the field, and many of whom are also on the board of the closely linked George C. Marshall Institute."

Table of contents

1 Board of Directors 2 Board of Science Advisors 3 Views of the SEPP 4 Attempts to discredit SEPP 5 External links

Board of Directors

Present on the Board of Directors are:

• Frederick Seitz (chair)
• Fred Singer
• Charles Gelman, formerly of Gelman Sciences, currently retired.
• Mark Brandsdorfer (replaced David Hill in 2000, president and CEO of the Patent Enforcement Fund, who retired from science some time in the 1980s)

Board of Science Advisors

The board of science advisors, in general, lack scientific connections to climate change.

• Bruce Ames (USA), a cancer researcher
• C.J.F. Böttcher (Neth.), studies natural resources
• Tor Ragnar Gerholm (Swed.), physicist
• Michael Higatsberger (Austria), physicist
• Henry Linden (USA), Professor of Energy and Power Engineering
• William Mitchell, (UK, deceased)
• William Nierenberg (USA, deceased), nuclear physicist
• Michel Salomon (Fr.), dermatologist, journalist
• Chauncey Starr (USA, deceased), electrical engineer, president emeritas of Electric Power Research Institute

Views of the SEPP

SEPP has emerged as one of the chief opponents of the global warming hypothesis, dismissing it as an unvalidated theory. SEPP's position on global warming is summed up in these quotes from Dr. Singer's web site:

• ". . . at least two-thirds of the warming in this century occurred before 1940, i.e., before most of the increase in greenhouse gases. The period, 1940-1975, showed a cooling. More important perhaps, the highly accurate global temperature data from weather satellites show no warming whatsoever in the last 18 years, while the climate models predict a warming of 0.4 to 0.6 C. Clearly, the theoretical models have not been validated by actual observations. Why then should we trust them to predict a future warming?" (August 26, 1996) [1].

Note that the claim about "at least 2/3 of the warming" does not appear to be supported by the temperature record http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/figspm-1.htm. Further, the claim about no warming from the satellite record is wrong: the rise to-date (mid 2003) is 0.07 oC/decade; and climate models reproduce past temperature history quite accurately: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/figspm-4.htm.

• "The possibility that global temperatures could rise because of an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a concern that needs to be monitored," says Singer. "But there has been no indication in the last century that we've seen anything other than natural climate fluctuations. Both greenhouse theory and computer models predict that global warming should be more rapid in the polar regions than anywhere else," he says, "but in July the Antarctic experienced the coldest weather on record." (Sept. 2, 1997) [1]

The claim that there is "no indication" of anything other than natural fluctuations is odd: most recent research (see anthropogenic climate change) suggests that recent warming is anthropogenic. Even Patrick Michaels, a well-known "skeptic", has said: it is "proven humans are warming the atmosphere" [1]. Attempting to refute warming by quoting cooling in any one year is to confuse weather with climate.

SEPP was the author of the Leipzig Declaration, which it says was based on the conclusions drawn from a November 1995 conference in Leipzig, Germany, which SEPP organized with the European Academy for Environmental Affairs.

Attempts to discredit SEPP

Opponents of SEPP have linked it with "cult leader" Rev. Moon and with oil companies, implying that his views are not based on scientific study but are loony and/or financially-motivated. Scientific rebuttals of SEPP's analyses are rare and hard to find.

Startup funding and office space were provided by the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, an think-tank created by the Unification Church.

SEPP accepted a one-year donation of office space from the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, a now-defunct think tank affiliated with Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. [1] SEPP has subsequently dissociated itself from the Washington Institute, strengthening its links with the conservative Virginia-based George Mason University. In 1998, SEPP received a $10,000 donation from ExxonMobil [1].

External links

• The Science & Environmental Policy Project