Science & Environmental Policy Project
Encyclopedia
The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) is a research and advocacy group financed by private contributions based in Arlington, Virginia in the United States
. It was founded in 1990 by atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer. SEPP disputes the prevailing scientific views of climate change
and ozone depletion
. SEPP also questioned the science used to establish the dangers of secondhand smoke, arguing the risks are overstated.
SEPP's former Chairman of the Board of Directors is listed as Rockefeller University
president emeritus Frederick Seitz
, a former president of the National Academy of Sciences
, now deceased.
On September 2, 1997, Singer said that "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...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."http://www.sepp.org/pressrel/goreglac.html
SEPP was the author of the Leipzig Declaration
, which was based on the conclusions drawn from a November 1995 conference in Leipzig, Germany, which SEPP organized with the European Academy for Environmental Affairs.
The 2008 NIPCC document titled Nature, Not Human Activity Rules the Climate: Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel of Climate Change, published by The Heartland Institute
, was released in February–March 2008. Singer served as General Editor and also holds the copyright.
Unnamed climate scientists from NASA
, Stanford University
and Princeton
who were contacted by ABC News dismissed the same report as "fabricated nonsense.". In response, Singer objected to the ABC News piece, calling it "an appalling display of bias, unfairness, journalistic misbehavior, and a breakdown of ethical standards" which used "prejudicial language, distorted facts, libelous insinuations, and anonymous smears."
Scientific criticism of SEPP's views:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was founded in 1990 by atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer. SEPP disputes the prevailing scientific views of climate change
Scientific opinion on climate change
The predominant scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth is in an ongoing phase of global warming primarily caused by an enhanced greenhouse effect due to the anthropogenic release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases...
and ozone depletion
Ozone depletion
Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s: a steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere , and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions. The latter phenomenon...
. SEPP also questioned the science used to establish the dangers of secondhand smoke, arguing the risks are overstated.
SEPP's former Chairman of the Board of Directors is listed as Rockefeller University
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...
president emeritus Frederick Seitz
Frederick Seitz
Frederick Seitz was an American physicist and a pioneer of solid state physics. Seitz was president of Rockefeller University, and president of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1962–1969. He was the recipient of the National Medal of Science, NASA's Distinguished Public Service...
, a former president of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, now deceased.
SEPP's views
SEPP lists the following key issues: http://www.sepp.org/key%20issues/keyissue.html- "Computer models forecast rapidly rising global temperatures, but data from weather satellitesSatellite temperature measurementsThe temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements. Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly but measure radiances in various wavelength bands...
and balloon instrumentsRadiosondeA radiosonde is a unit for use in weather balloons that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them to a fixed receiver. Radiosondes may operate at a radio frequency of 403 MHz or 1680 MHz and both types may be adjusted slightly higher or lower as required...
show no warming whatsoever. Nevertheless, these same unreliable computer models underpin the Global Climate Treaty." - In preparing its 1995 report, the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
unfairly marginalized scientific views which do not support the conclusion that human activity is causing climate change. - The Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
has promulgated various regulations (pertaining to e.g. smogSmogSmog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...
, ozoneOzoneOzone , or trioxygen, is a triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope...
, environmental toxins, and particulate matter) which significantly harm the economy with negligible environmental benefit. - No detectable increase in ultravioletUltravioletUltraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
radiation has been demonstrated from thinning of the ozone layer. The ban on CFCs in developed countries is economically harmful and ineffective, because they are still produced in developing countries. - In general, science has been misused to promote "politically correct" views, and the mechanisms of science funding contribute to a systemic biasSystemic biasSystemic bias is the inherent tendency of a process to favor particular outcomes. The term is a neologism that generally refers to human systems; the analogous problem in non-human systems is often called systematic bias, and leads to systematic error in measurements or estimates.-Bias in...
. - Natural resources are best managed by free-market mechanisms in the context of clearly established property rights.
- The U.S. space program should focus on manned exploration of MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
(as opposed to unmanned problems, or manned exploration of low earth orbitLow Earth orbitA low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
), with the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
as a stepping stone. - Efforts to protect the EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
from asteroid impact have been neglected.
On September 2, 1997, Singer said that "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...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."http://www.sepp.org/pressrel/goreglac.html
SEPP was the author of the Leipzig Declaration
Leipzig Declaration
The Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change is a statement made in 1995, seeking to refute the claim there is a scientific consensus on the global warming issue...
, which was based on the conclusions drawn from a November 1995 conference in Leipzig, Germany, which SEPP organized with the European Academy for Environmental Affairs.
Rebuttals
SEPP's critics offer the following rebuttals to its claims:- The satellite record shows that warming is occurring. As of mid-2007, the rise is between 0.14 and 0.184 degree CelsiusCelsiusCelsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
per decade, depending on which satellite record is used. (See Satellite temperature measurementsSatellite temperature measurementsThe temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements. Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly but measure radiances in various wavelength bands...
.) - Computer climate models have predicted 20th century temperature trends accurately. http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/figspm-4.htm
- Scientific evidence indicates that recent global warming is caused by human activity. Patrick MichaelsPatrick MichaelsPatrick J. Michaels is an American climatologist. Michaels is a senior research fellow for Research and Economic Development at George Mason University, and a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute...
, a well-known "skeptic", has said that it is "proven humans are warming the atmosphere" http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20031015-085235-5134r.htm. (See Attribution of recent climate changeAttribution of recent climate changeAttribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent changes observed in the Earth's climate...
.) - The ban on CFCs did not cause any substantial economic harm, and has been effective. Increases in surface UV are inferred (see ozone depletionOzone depletionOzone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s: a steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere , and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions. The latter phenomenon...
). - Primary scientific data was collected in Punta Arenas, Chile, using a Brewer spectro-photometer, and "These results indicate that during the time when ozone depletion in the Antarctica takes place, an increase in UV-B radiation reaching the Earth surface affected the American continent at latitudes about parallel 50° S."http://ozono.dcsc.utfsm.cl/publica1.html
- In response to NASA research confirming 2010 tied for the warmest year on record, James Hanson, Chief Climate Scientist and Director, Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, stated: "if the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long."
NIPCC
In 2008, The Science and Environmental Policy Project completed the organization of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) as the culmination of a process that began in 2003. The NIPCC calls itself "an international coalition of scientists convened to provide an independent examination of the evidence available on the causes and consequences of climate change in the published, peer-reviewed literature – examined without bias and selectivity."The 2008 NIPCC document titled Nature, Not Human Activity Rules the Climate: Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel of Climate Change, published by The Heartland Institute
Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is a libertarian, American public policy think tank based in Chicago, Illinois which advocates free market policies. The Institute is designated as a 501 non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service and advised by a 15 member board of directors, which meets quarterly. As of...
, was released in February–March 2008. Singer served as General Editor and also holds the copyright.
Unnamed climate scientists from NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
who were contacted by ABC News dismissed the same report as "fabricated nonsense.". In response, Singer objected to the ABC News piece, calling it "an appalling display of bias, unfairness, journalistic misbehavior, and a breakdown of ethical standards" which used "prejudicial language, distorted facts, libelous insinuations, and anonymous smears."
Further reading
In 2004 Singer was coauthor of two papers published in Geophysical Research Letters:- Douglass, D. H., B. D. Pearson, and S. F. Singer (2004), Altitude dependence of atmospheric temperature trends: Climate models versus observation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L13208, doi:10.1029/2004GL020103.
- Douglass, D. H., B. D. Pearson, S. F. Singer, P. C. Knappenberger, and P. J. Michaels (2004), Disparity of tropospheric and surface temperature trends: New evidence, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L13207, doi:10.1029/2004GL020212.
Scientific criticism of SEPP's views:
- "The Ozone Backlash," Science, New Series, Vol. 260, No. 5114, pp. 1580–1583, June 11, 1993.